92 THE BIRDS OF DORSET. 



every bay and inlet. Often seen in company with the 

 Ringed Plover. Although there is no proof of its 

 breeding in Dorsetshire, the late Mr. W. Thompson, 

 of Weymouth, thought it did so on the Chesil Bank ; 

 but this is extremely doubtful. Pulteney followed 

 Linneeus, Pennant, and Montagu in considering the 

 winter and summer plumage of the Dunlin to 

 indicate a distinct species, calling the bird in its 

 latter dress Tringa cinclus, the Purre. 



LITTLE STINT. Tringa minuta, Leisler. 



Yarrell, iii. p. 386 ; Harting, p. 49 ; Dresser ', viii. p. 29; Seebohm, 

 ill p. 204; Ibis List, p. 169. 



Like the last named, the Little Stint is a spring 

 and autumn migrant. At the latter season it is 

 occasionally seen in company with Dunlins and 

 Sanderlings, whose habits are very similar. It is not 

 uncommon in the neighbourhood of Weymouth and 

 in the Poole estuary, also on the sandy portions of 

 the coast. It is seldom seen in large flocks, but 

 Mr. T. M. Pike once killed eight at a shot out of 

 a flock of about thirty at Poole. Messrs. Seebohm 

 and Harvie Browne discovered one of its breeding 

 haunts on an island at the mouth of the Petchora, 

 Western Siberia, July 22, 1873, until which date 

 no authenticated egg of this bird had been procured. 

 All honour to these enterprising ornithologists. 



The distinguishing characters of this species and 

 the next have been clearly pointed out by Mr. 

 Harting in his "Birds of Middlesex," p. 199. 



