CEYLON RAILS, WADERS, GULLS, AND TERNS. 229 
Summer : The upper parts are rufous cinnamon with black 
centres and pale ashy edges to the feathers. The foreneck 
and breast are rufous mottled with black. Remainder of 
lower parts white. 
Young birds are blackish, with pale gray edges to the feathers 
of the crown and upper back. The scapulars, wing coverts, 
and tertiaries are much mottled with white ; the lower parts 
are white. 
Bill black ; iris deep brown ; legs and feet black, there is 
no hind toe. 
Length 7°5; wing 4°75; tail 2; tarsus 1; bill from 
gape 1-1. 
Distribution —A specimen was once obtained from, a flock 
on an islet in Negombo lagoon. This bird is found on the 
coast of India, but is rare, except in Sind and Baluchistan. 
It occurs nearly all over the world, breeding in arctic regions 
and migrating south in winter. 
Habits —Usually met with in small flocks round flat shores, 
often in company with other waders, especially Sand Plovers 
and Stints. 
TRINGA MINUTA (Blanford, Vol. IV., p. 273 ; 
Legge, p. 884). 
The Little Stint. 
Description.—Winter : Upper plumage brown tinged with 
gray, each feather with broad black shaft-stripes ; the fore- 
head, eyebrow, lower cheeks, and under parts white ; the sides 
of the neck and of the breast brownish with darker streaks. 
The wing coverts and tertiaries are darker with pale edges to 
the feathers ; the greater coverts have broad white tips ; wing 
quills dark brown with white shafts ; secondaries white at the 
base, the white predominating on the inner secondaries. The 
middle of the lower back, rump, and tail coverts are blackish- 
brown, the sides white ; the tail is dark brown in the centre, 
lighter smoky brown at the sides. 
Summer: Upper parts rufous with black centres to the 
feathers ; foreneck and upper breast tinged with rufous and 
spotted with dark brown. 
