AMERICAN STINT. 213 



TBINGA MINUTILLA. 

 AMERICAN STINT. 



(PLATE 31.) 



Tringa minutilla, Vieill. N. Diet. dHist. Nat, xxxiv. p. 452 (1819) ; et auctorum 



plurixnorum Coues, Baird, Ridgway, Dresser, Sounders, &c. 

 Tringa wilsoni, Nutt. Man. Orn. ii. p. 121 (1834). 

 Pelidna nana, Licht. Nomencl. Av. p. 92 (1854). 



Actodromus minutilla ( Vieill.). [ /10 eo\ 



i /*r ^ \ I Bonap. Compt. Rend. xlm. p. 596 (1856). 

 Actodromus mlsom (Nutt.), I 



Tringa pusilla, Linn., apud Wilson, Audubon, Bonaparte, Swainson fy Richardson, 

 Gray, Sec. 



Only two examples of the American form of the Little Stint are known 

 to have been obtained in this country, but it is very probable that it has 

 been overlooked. The first of these little strangers was procured in Mounts 

 Bay, Cornwall, on the 10th of October, 1853; it was shot and preserved 

 by Mr. W. H. Vingoe ; it was observed by itself on a piece of wet grass- 

 land near the sea, and when flushed it uttered no sound. These particulars, 

 with a minute description of the bird, furnished to him by its captor, were 

 recorded by Mr. E. H. Rodd (' Zoologist/ 1854, p. 4296). 



The second example was shot by Mr. M. Rickards on the 22nd of Sep- 

 tember, 1869, on a salt-marsh near Bideford, lying between Northam 

 Burrow and the estuary of the rivers Taw and Torrid ge in Devonshire; 

 this bird was also alone (Rodd, ( Zoologist/ 1869, p. 1920). Further 

 particulars of its capture were contributed, at Mr. Rodd's request, by the 

 gentleman who shot it (Rickards, ' Zoologist/ 1870, p. 2025). It was very 

 active and restless and difficult to approach. When flushed it uttered a 

 short hurried note, and its flight was very strong and rapid. It always 

 flew across the water, when disturbed, at a great height, but invariably 

 returned to the same place. It was a male. 



The American form of the Little Stint breeds in the Arctic regions of 

 the western hemisphere from Alaska to Labrador. It passes through the 

 United States and the Bermudas on migration, a few remaining to winter 

 in the Southern States, but the greater number passing southwards to 

 winter in Mexico, the West Indies, Central America, and the northern 

 portions of South America. 



This bird is very common in America, frequenting the coasts as well 

 as the interior of the United States on migration to and from its 

 breeding-grounds far away on the tundras of the Arctic regions. Its 



