454} SCOLOPACID^. 



LITTLE STINT. 



TRINGA MINUTA. 



Bill straight, shorter than the head ; two middle and two outer feathers of the 

 tail longer than the rest ("tail doubly forked"); tarsus ten lines; upper 

 plumage ash and dusky ; a brown streak between the bill and the eye ; under 

 plumage white ; outer feathers of the tail ash-brown, edged with whitish ; 

 middle ones brown ; bill and feet black. Length five and a half inches. Eggs 

 reddish white, spotted with dark red-brown. 



A RARE and occasional visitant, appearing from time to 

 time in small flocks on the muddy or sandy sea-coast. 

 My friend, tlie Rev. W. S. Hore (to whom I am indebted 

 for many valuable notes, incorporated in the text of this 

 volume), obtained several specimens of this bird in 

 October, 1840, on the Laira mud banks, near Plymouth. 

 In their habits they differed little from the Dunlin. 

 They were at first very tame, but after having been 

 fired at became more cautious. In their food and mode 

 of collecting it, nothing was observed to distinguish them 

 from the other Sandpipers. 



TEMMmCK'S STINT. 



TRINGA TEMMINCKII. 



Bill slightly bent down at the tip, much shorter than the head ; tail graduated. 

 Winter — Upper plumage brown and dusky ; breast reddish ; lower plumage 

 and outer tail-feathers white; biU and feet brown. Summer — AU the upper 

 feathers black, bordered with rust-red; breast reddish ash, streaked with 

 black. Length five and a half inches. Eggs unkno^vn. 



Temminck, in whose honour this bird was named, states 

 that it "inhabits the Arctic Regions, and is seen on its 

 jDassage at two periods of the year in different parts of 

 Germany, on the banks of lakes and rivers ; probably, also, 

 in the interior of France ; never along the maritime coasts 

 of Holland ; very rare on the Lake of Geneva. Its food 

 consists of small insects. It probably builds its nest very 

 far north." A few have been killed in England, and it 

 occurs in many parts of Asia and in North Africa, but it 

 is nowhere abundant. 



