THIXGA. 273 



b'. Bill about 1, wing 5 to 5'5 ; tail-feathers 



acuminate T. acuminata, p. 276. 



c'. Bill about 1-9, wing over 7 T. crassirostris, p. 277. 



b. Bill curved downwards near the tip. 



d'. Upper tail-coverts chiefly white T. subarquata, p. 278, 



e. Upper tail-coverts blackish brown. 

 c 2 . Bill slender, higher than broad ; 



middle tail-feathers projecting .... T. alpina, p. 279. 

 d 2 . Bill stout, as broad as high ; middle 

 tail-feathers scarcely longer than 

 others T. platyrkyncJia, p. 279. 



1471. Tringa minuta. The Little Stint. 



Trinjra minuta, Leisler, in Bechst. Naturg. Deutschl., Nachtr. i, p. 74 

 (1812) ; Blyth, Cat. p. 270 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 690 ; Hume, S. F. 

 i, p. 242 ; Adam, ibid. p. 396 ; Legge, ibid. p. 491 ; Hume, S. F. iv, 

 p. 17 ; Hume $ Da. S. F. vi, p. 46 1 ; Hume, S. F. vii, pp. 228, 487, 

 497 ; id. Cat. no. 884 ; Legge, Birds Ceyl p. 884 ; Vidal, S. F. ix, 

 p. 85 ; Butler, ibid. p. 429 ; Scully, Ibis, 1881, p. 088 ; Reid, S. F. 

 x, p. 70 ; Davidson, ibid. p. 321 ; Hume. ibid. p. 414 ; Oates, B. B. 

 ii, p. 389 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 365 ; Seebohm, Charadr. p. 435. 



Limonites minuta, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 538. 



Chota pau-loka, II. 



Fig. 63. Head of T. minuta. \. 



Coloration in winter. Forehead, supercilia, lower cheeks, and. 

 underparts generally, with axillaries, white, sides of breast as a 

 rule brownish and striated ; a brown streak across the lores ; sides 

 of head below and behind eye and sides of neck brownish, with 

 dark streaks ; upper plumage brown, more or less tinged with 

 grey, the feathers with broad blackish shaft-stripes ; tertiaries and 

 whig-coverts darker brown with pale edges, the greater coverts 

 tipped broadly with white ; quills blackish brown with white 

 shafts, secondaries white at base, the white extending over the 

 greater part of the inner secondaries ; middle of lower back, rump, 

 and upper tail-coverts blackish brown, the sides white : middle 

 tail-feathers also dark brown, outer rectrices light smoky brown. 



In summer the feathers of the upper parts are black with broad 

 rufous edges : the fore neck and upper breast are indistinctly 

 spotted with dark brown and tinged with dull rufous. 



Young birds are blackish above, with rufous borders and some 

 whitish edges to the feathers ; lower surface without spots, but 

 tinged with isabelline buff. 



VOL. iv. x 



