SCOLOPACID^.] 



AMERICAN STINT. 



TRINGA MINUTILLA (Vieillot). 



Explanation of Plate. 



Figure 1. June 9, 1880. No. 21331 U.S. National Museum Coll. 



2. Ditto. No. 21332 Ditto. 



3. June 11, 1880. No. 2133-1 Ditto. 



4. June 9, 1880. No. 21329 Ditto. 



5. June 10, 1880. No. 21333 Ditto. 



6. June 9, 1880. No. 21330 Ditto. 



St. Michaels, Alaska. 

 E. W. Nelson 

 coll. 



Only two occurrences of this species in the British Islands are recorded, one 

 in Cornwall and the other in Devonshire. 



With reference to the geographical distribution of the American Stint, 

 Mr. Howard Saunders ^vrites * : — " This small Stint, called by American orni- 

 thologists the Least Sandpiper, is widely distributed throughout the Arctic 

 portions of the New World, breeding as far south as Sable Island — a little 

 below Nova Scotia, as well as in Newfoundland, Labrador, and the higher 

 regions generally to Alaska. A limited number winter in the Gulf States, 

 but the majority pass onward to Mexico, the West Indies, Central America 

 and Brazil. In autumn large flocks take an easterly direction as far as the 

 Bermudas, while on the west side the species is extremely common in Southern 

 California." 



Audubon, who found the American Stint breeding in Labrador, writes as 

 follows t : — " That this species is naturally disposed to seek alpine sections of 

 the country for the purpose of reproduction, I obtained abundant proof whilst in 

 Labrador, where I found it plentiful, and breeding on the moss-clad crests of the 

 highest rocks, within short distances of the sea. There are means through which 

 the experienced student of Nature may discover the hidden treasures of birds of 

 this family, which to others would prove useless, and which I shall here point out. 



* ' Manual of British Birds,' p. 573. 



t ' Ornithological Biography,' vol. iv. pp. ISl, 182. 



2b 



