LITTLE STINT. 45 



It is of migratory habits, going northwards in the spring, 

 and south in the autumn. 



They appear not to be shy of approach, and go in small 

 flocks, mixing at times with other species of shore birds. 



Meyer says that they sleep in the early part of the day, 

 and if come near to, run a little distance very quickly, and 

 then take wing. They are kept in confinement without 

 difficulty. 



'The flight of this species is quick, but rather unsteady, 

 and with arched wings.' 



It feeds on the smaller water insects, mollusks, and worms. 



The note seems to resemble the syllables 'deer, deer,' according 

 to one account; but according to another is like its own name, 

 thence perhaps derived, 'stint, stint.' 



Male; weight, twelve pennyweights, troy; length, nearly 

 six inches; bill, black, very slender, and bent a little down- 

 wards; from its base to the eye and behind it is a dusky 

 brown streak in autumn and winter; iris, dark brown; above 

 and below it is a buff-cploured streak, greyish white in 

 autumn. Forehead and sides of the head, buff, the latter 

 spotted with dusky brown, in autumn grey, in winter white; 

 head on the crown, neck on the back and sides, and nape, 

 ferruginous, with specks of black; these in autumn and the 

 neck on the sides . are pale rufous grey streaked with darker, 

 and with a dusky band across the bottom of the neck in 

 front; in winter still paler; chin and throat, white spotted 

 with brown, and the feathers margined with yellowish brown, 

 in autumn grey, in winter white, as it is below at all times; 

 breast above, pale rufous, below white. The back has the 

 feathers dusky black in the centre, with broad ferruginous 

 margins, fading to buff in the autumn, and in the winter 

 to grey. 



The wings have the first feather the longest; the axillary 

 plume white; they expand to rather more than eleven inches. 

 Greater and lesser wing coverts, black on the centres of the 

 feathers, broadly edged with ferruginous, changing to buff in 

 the autumn, and in winter to white; primaries, deep brown 

 or black, in autumn dusky with white shafts, and very 

 slightly tipped with white; secondaries, also nearly black 

 tipped with white, and edged in autumn; the tertiaries, deep 

 brown or black in the centre, with wide ferruginous margins, 

 fading into buff in the autumn, and in winter grey brown 

 with lighter-coloured margins. The tail, of twelve feathers, 



