SCOLOPACID^. 331 



white, streaked with brownish-grey ; the throat, breast, and 

 abdomen, white ; the tail-coverts white ; the tail brownish- 

 grey. In summer : the upper parts of the body black, mot- 

 tled and streaked with light-red ; the sides of the head, the 

 fore part and sides of the neck, and the breast, bright 

 yellowish-red; the neck faintly streaked with dusky; tail- 

 coverts white, spotted with brown and red ; the tail brownish- 

 grey, glossed with green. Length, 9" ; wing, 5" 6"' ; tail, 2". 



The Pigmy Curleio is abundant along the shores in the winter or 

 non-breeding plumage, and I have shot some now and then, just 

 beginning to assume that of the summer phase ; but not a single speci- 

 men has ever occurred to me, showing the full fine red tints of that 

 state. It lives in great flocks on Hobben Island, and at the mouth of 

 the Salt River. 



During my cruise in H. M. S. Castor, on the East Coast of Africa, 

 we landed at an Arab settlement called Fazy, within a degree and a, 

 half of the Line. Our boat entered the mud-creek on which the little 

 town is built, and seeing a vast flock of birds on the ooze, Lieut. 

 Suttee and myself stole upon them behind an embankment, and fired 

 our four barrels into the mass. The dead and wounded might have 

 been counted by hundreds. The sailors collected a bread-haq full ! ! 

 and they dropped by twos and threes from the flock, as it disappeared 

 in the distance. The majority consisted of the species under con- 

 sideration with T. Minuta, Calidris Arenaria, Totanus Fuscus, T. 

 Glottis, Charadius Marginatus, &c. 



622. Tringa Minuta, I^eist.; Gould's Birds of Eur., 



PI. 332; Tringa Pusilla, Mey. and Wolf; Pelid7ia 



Minuta, Bonap. ; Tringa Cinclus, Pall. ; Bewick's 



Brit. Birds, p. 83. 



Plumage in winter: brownish-grey above, each feather with 

 a dusky streak ; the sides of the neck paler ; its lower 

 part tinged with brown ; the throat, fore-neck, breast, and 

 abdomen, white ; the middle tail-coverts dusky ; the lateral 

 white ; the tail-feathers ash-grey, edged with white ; the two 

 middle greyish-brown. In summer: the upper parts yellow- 

 ish-red, spotted with brownish-black ; the throat, breast, and 

 other lower parts, white ; the lower anterior and lateral parts 

 of the neck reddish-grey, streaked with brown ; a dusky 

 loral band, and a whitish streak over the eye. Length, 6" ; 

 wing, 4" ; tail, 1". 



Common in all marshes and on the seaboard. Their flight is very 

 beautiful when in large flocks ; various evolutions performed simulta- 

 neously show alternately the dark upper plumage and the white under 

 sides like flashes of light, particularly when seen against a dull, lower- 

 ing sky. 



