210 BRITISH BIRDS. 



on its nest. We gave it three minutes' grace, to be quite sure, and then 

 quietly walked up to the place, and sat down, one on each side of the eggs. 

 The bird as quietly slipped off the nest, and began to walk about all round 

 us, now and then pecking on the ground as if feeding, seldom going more 

 than six feet from us, and often approaching within eighteen inches. It 

 was a most interesting and beautiful sight. The tameness of the bird was 

 almost ludicrous. We chatted and talked; but the bird remained perfectly 

 silent, and did not betray the slightest symptom of fear or concern, until I 

 touched the eggs. She then gave a flutter towards me, apparently to attract 

 my attention. I turned towards her, and she resumed her former uncon- 

 cern. I stretched my hand towards her. She quietly retreated, keeping 

 about two feet from my hand. She seemed so extremely tame that I 

 almost thought for the moment that I could catch her, and getting up on 

 all fours I crept quietly towards her. As soon as I began to move from 

 the nest, her manner entirely changed. She kept about the same distance 

 ahead of me ; but instead of retreating, with the utmost apparent non- 

 chalance she did everything in her power to attract me still further. She 

 shuffled along the ground as if lame ; she dropped her wings as if unable 

 to fly, and occasionally rested on her breast, quivering her drooping wings 

 and spread tail as if dying. I threw one of my gauntlets at her, thinking 

 to secure her without damage, but she was too quick for me. Piottuch 

 then fired at her and missed. He followed her for some distance ; but she 

 kept just out of range, and finally flew away. We waited about a quarter 

 of an hour at the nest, talking and making no effort to conceal ourselves, 

 when she flew straight up and alighted within easy shot, and I secured her. 

 The Little Stint seems to be a very quiet bird at the nest, quite different 

 from Temminck's Stint. When you invade a colony of the latter birds, 

 especially if they have young, the parents almost chase you from the spot 

 flying wildly round and round and crying vociferously, often perching 

 upon a stake or a tree, or hovering in the air and trilling. We observed 

 none of these habits in the Little Stint. So far as we saw, only the female 

 takes part in incubation, and only the female is seen near the nest. On 

 our way back to the wreck we met with a party of Sander lings on the 

 shore, and shot two of them. No doubt these birds were breeding some- 

 where in the district. 



After a good dinner of Willow- Grouse and a siesta of three hours, we 

 started to take the nest that Piottuch had marked. Whilst we had slept, 

 the weather had changed. The mosquitoes had all gone. A smart gale 

 was blowing from the north, and a heavy sea was breaking on the shore. 

 It was cloudy, and dark, and cold, with an attempt now and then at rain. 

 The nest was a couple of miles off, very near the shore of the inland sea, 

 but on somewhat similar ground moss, cloudberry, grass, &c. The eggs 

 were intermediate in colour between those of the other two nests. On our 



