THE STINTS. 255 



" The sitting bird runs a dozen or twenty yards from the nest 

 on being disturbed before taking flight, but one has only to sit 

 down and watch quietly for ten minutes when she will return, "^^ 

 and, after a few preliminary runs, settle down on the eggs ; this 

 is the best way to find them, as the nest is very difficult, in fact 

 almost impossible, to discover without the assistance of the old 

 bird. 



"The behaviour of the bird when the nest was found, was 

 really extraordinary ; it often ran around our feet while we were 

 blowing the eggs, looking reproachfully on the operation ; one 

 time sitting on my gun which lay within easy reach of my hand. 

 Then it would sit down in the now empty nest a second or two, 

 after which, pathetic attempts would be made to beguile us 

 from the spot; the whole scene so touchingly pretty as to 

 almost induce a hardened collector to give back his treasures." 



Eggs. — Four in number, and pyriform in shape. Ground- 

 colour olive-grey to creamy, or dull, brown ; the eggs being 

 rather remarkable for the boldness of their spotting, which is 

 chocolate-brown or blackish. Sometimes the spots are reddish- 

 brown and are distributed over the egg, but the darker mark- 

 ings are generally near the larger end, and often form confluent 

 blotches. The underlying spots are Hghtgrey. Total axis, I'l- 

 1-2 inch; diam., o-8-o'85. 



II. THE AMERICAN STINT. LIMONITES MINUTILLA. 



Tringa miiiiitilla, Vieill. N. Diet. d'Hist. Nat. xxxiv. p. 466 

 (1819); Dresser, B. Eur. viii. p. 51, pi. 552 figs. 2, 3 

 (1871); B. O. U. List. Brit. B. p. 170 (1883); Saunders, 

 ed. Yarrell, Brit. B. iii. p. 396 (1883); Saunders, Man. 

 Brit. B. p. 573(1889). 

 Tringa minuta miimtilla^ Seebohm, Hist. Brit. B. iii. p. 205 



(1885). 

 L monites mi?mtiUa, Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xxiv. p. 548 

 (1896). 

 Adult in Winter Plumage. — Similar to that of Z. mifiuta, but 

 the size smaller and further distinguished by the distinct ashy- 

 brown of the fore-neck and chest, which is mottled with dark 



* It is to be noticed that Mr. Pearson found the male to be the sitting 

 bird, as is the case with Z. tcmmincki. 



