4 SCOLOPACID^. 



at Kistrand. But as this svimmer Avas unusually late, and there were large masses 

 of snow still lying on all declivities, the breeding-season is generally somewhat 

 earlier in ordinary years. In 1874 at Tromso I found fresh clutches on the 10th 

 of June, and it can be taken as a rule that most eggs are laid about June 20th. 

 The first young in down are to be seen in the first week in July, and the first 

 young birds capable of fiight towards the middle of July (Vadso, July 19th, 1878). 

 The stomachs of examples shot contained, in addition to sand, various insects 

 which are usually found on the shore, as well as the larvae of Diptera &c." 



In his notes on " A Birds'-nestiug Kamble in Lapland " in the spring of 1884, 

 Mr. A. C. Chapman writes as follows * : — " Coming down the Pulmakelf, on our 

 return to Pulmak, we found two nests of Temminck's Stints, one containing two 

 eggs, the other three. The latter was placed close to a Lap's log-hut, and 

 immediately behind a dunghill adjoining the house, a few paces from the edge of 

 the Tana. The old birds were very solicitous, sailing around with their wings 

 set over their backs, like a butterfly, often lighting on a tree, rail, or stone, or 

 sometimes on the ridge of the Lap hut adjoining, uttering the while a continual 

 pretty trilling note. I frequently observed this tiny Wader in the act of nest- 

 making, scratching a hole with its little feet, then quickly sitting down and 

 turning its little body round to form the required depression. Then the bird 

 jumps up, and looking at the embryo nest, pushes a dead birch-leaf with her 

 slender beak into the tiny hole. I measured the diameter of one nest containing 

 four eggs, and it did not amount to 2\ inches over all. The eggs are placed 

 small ends together, and, owing to the depth of the nest, are caused to stand 

 nearly on end, thus taking up very little space ; indeed, if they lay on their sides, 

 the small body of this Wader could not cover them. Frequently, when at the 

 nest, the Stints Avould run round and round, almost coming within arm's reach ; 

 but their quickness of flight when surprised or frightened is astonishing. They 

 seemed to have a special liking for the dry sandy banks of the Pulmakelf close to 

 its junction with the Tana. Here the sloping sand was sparsely overgrown with 

 dwarf willows, and amongst the roots of the willows a coarse grass was growing, 

 strewn with dead birch-leaves, and this the Stints seemed to prefer to any other 

 place, although I afterwards found them breeding several hundred yards from 

 water." 



Messrs. H. J. Pearson and E. Bidwell, in their notes " On a Bu'ds'-nestins 

 Excursion to the North of Norway in 1893," write as follovv^s with reference to 

 this species f : — " Common in the Porsanger. Found several nests with full 



* ' Ibis,' 1885, pp. 177, 178. 

 t 'Ibis,' 1894, p. 235. 



