520 RARE BRITISH BIRDS 



feathers, rather paler on the neck ; throat, belly, vent, under tail, and under wing-coverts pure 

 white ; chest white, with very distinct black markings and streaks ; iris brown ; bill and feet 

 dusky. The adult in non-breeding plumage is similar to the above, but the upper parts are 

 brownish grey, devoid of the rich rufous buff margins, [w. P. P. and T. w.] 



2. Distribution. Breeds on the Arctic coasts and islands of North America. It has 

 occurred west to Point Barrow, Alaska, and east to Greenland, and has been proved to breed on 

 the shores of Franklin Bay and Herschel Island, and probably also in Davis Strait and in the 

 Parry Archipelago (Prince Albert Land). On migration it passes through North America, and 

 winters in South America south to the Straits of Magellan and the Falkland Isles. It has 

 occurred as a casual in Bermuda and Franz Josef Land, fourteen times in England (chiefly on 

 the south coast), and possibly once in Ireland. [F. c. R. J.] 



AMERICAN-STINT [Pelidna minutttla (Vieillot) ; Erolia minutilla (Vieillot) ; Tringa 

 minutilla Vieillot. Least-sandpiper.] 



1. Description. Distinguished from Temminck's stint (Pelidna temminckii) by the outer 

 pairs of tail feathers, which are coloured like the rest ; and from Bonaparte's sandpiper in that 

 it is slightly smaller and has the upper surface, in the breeding season, darker, the black areas 

 predominating over the other colours. 



2. Distribution. Breeds in North America from Sable Island, Nova Scotia, Newfound- 

 land, the Magdalen Islands, Anticosti, and the Labrador coast west to Hudson Bay, the 

 Barren grounds, and North Alaska. On migration it passes through North America to winter 

 from California, Texas, and North Carolina through the West Indies and Central America to 

 the Galapagos Isles, Chile, and Brazil. In East Siberia and Kamtschatka it is replaced by an 

 allied form, which winters from South-east Asia to Australia. The American race has occurred 

 in Greenland, and four times in England (Cornwall and Devon). [F. c. R. j.] 



TEMMINCK'S STINT [Pelidna temminckii (Leisler); Erolia temminckii (Leisler); Tringa 

 temminckii (Leisler). French, becasseau Temminck ; German, Temminck's Strandlaufer ; 

 Italian, gambeccio nano]. 



1. Description. Distinguished from the little-stint and from the American-stint by the 

 outer pairs of tail feathers, which are pure white. Length 6 in. [152 mm.]. Adult in summer 

 plumage feathers of the upper parts sandy rufous with black centres, a white eyebrow 

 extending from the base of the culmen to the ear-coverts; throat, belly, under tail-coverts, 

 axillaries, and under wing-coverts white ; chest and sides of the face ashy grey, mesially streaked 

 with blackish. In the winter plumage the upper parts are of an ashy brown with a few 

 indistinct black shaft-streaks to the feathers of the mantle ; throat, belly, and under tail-coverts, 

 axillaries, and under wing-coverts white ; sides of the face greyish ash, faintly margined with 

 lighter ash. The young in down is most beautifully mottled above with rufous and black, with 

 round spots of rich buff; under parts uniform golden buff. [w. p. P. and T. w.] 



2. Distribution. Breeds in Arctic Europe and Asia : in Europe from lat. 62i N. in Norway 

 (in the fjeld districts) and Lapland in Sweden northward ; in Finland from Ulea northward, 

 and in Russia in Lapland, the Kola Peninsula, the lower Onega, Dwina, and Petschora, and the 

 islands of Kolguev and Waigatz. In Asia Buturlin states that it nests on the Taimyr and 

 Boganida (lat. 70-7l), in the lower valleys of all the great Siberian rivers (Yenisei, Lena, 

 Kolyma, etc.) up to about 69J, on the Chukchi Peninsula and Anadyr. Reported breeding in 

 the Pamirs and Alai range as well as in the Stanovoi Mountains, requires confirmation ; 

 but Buturlin states that it nests south to lat. 51 N. in the basin of the Alexei (Tomsk govern- 

 ment). In winter it migrates through Europe to the Mediterranean region, wintering in the 

 Mediterranean and North Africa, while Asiatic birds visit Japan, China, Burma, and the Malay 



