BIRDS OF KOLGUEV 



435 



two were males. During the nesting season and up to about the fifth 

 week in August, parties of little stints numbering five, ten, or fifteen 

 birds or so, might certainly be seen flying in and about the lakes. 

 When flying in this way, these birds look very like larks and make a 

 twittering noise. No words could adequately convey a good idea of the 

 complicated ruses adopted by this tiny wader near the nest : nor could 

 one express phonetically the various notes it then utters. Thus : 

 'July 10, The little stint who had the nest made while feigning lame- 

 ness, etc., a noise exactly like the squeaking of a house-mouse.' ' July 

 12, Took one nest of little stint with four eggs. One bird only at the 

 nest as usual — a male. It behaved, as H. said, like a dancing doll, 

 jumping up and down on the same spot as if on springs.' 



T. temmincki leisler. Temminck's Stint. 



I saw very few of these birds on Kolguev, and none that seemed to 

 be nesting. I shot a female that was alone on the Scharok mud-flats 

 on July 1 6. I saw three together by a gully stream on Pesanka plateau 



on August 7. 



T. striata linn. Purple Sandpiper. 

 Pesoschnik morskoi (R.). 



The first occurrence of this bird was on June 22, when I shot a pair 

 high up by a stream in the Gusina country. On two occasions we saw 

 a single bird, once two, once three, and once five together on the sands 

 of the eastern side of the island. The last of these occurrences was on 

 September 8. They showed none of the solicitude of nesters. 



Calidris arenaria (linn.). Sanderling. 

 Morskoi-sujok (R.). 



The first we saw was a bird I shot off the sands at Scharok on 

 July 11. It proved to be a male and was in summer plumage. On 

 August 27, large parties of the birds were feeding at the edge of the 

 tide on the outer sand-banks : an occasional individual retained some 

 rufous feathers on the back, but in the great majority only black 

 feathers showed against the grey. 



