280 CHARADRIIFORMES 



CHAP. 



"World, has been obtained in England, and migrates at least as far 

 as Ecuador and Brazil ; the very similar Eastern Asiatic T. 

 sulminuta reaches Bering Island, and winters southwards to 

 the Indian Eegion and Australia. The habits and eggs of the 

 Little Stint resemble those of the Dunlin, but the latter are 

 smaller ; the note, too, is more like the twitter of a swallow. T. 

 temmincki is greyish-brown above and more buff below, with dark 

 markings throughout, white belly, alar bar and four outer rectrices. 

 In winter the dusky markings vanish, and the birds resemble 

 miniature Common Sandpipers. They frequently visit Britain, 

 and breed in Northern Europe and Asia, chiefly beyond the limits 

 of forest growth ; migrating southwards to Senegambia, North- 

 East Africa, India, the Malay countries, and China. Temminck's 

 Stint has a hovering, butterfly-like flight, and habitually perches 

 on posts and the like, uttering a continuous trilling note or song ; 

 the four buff or greyish-green eggs with their brown spotting are 

 deposited on a little herbage among sedge or grass. T. subar- 

 quata, the Curlew-Sandpiper, is grey, black, and rufous, with chest- 

 nut under surface and black bars on the white rump, both these 

 parts becoming white in winter ; the bill is long and decurved. 

 As far as is yet known, the breeding- quarters lie in the far north 

 of Asia, eggs having recently (1897) been taken near the mouth of 

 the Yenesei : but the bird occurs in Arctic Europe in spring and 

 autumn, and visits our shores irregularly in company with other 

 small waders in autumn, wandering occasionally to Eastern America 

 and Alaska, and migrating to Cape Colony, India, and Tasmania. 

 T.fuscicollis, Bonaparte's Sandpiper, with white upper tail-coverts, 

 but dusky rump and short bill, inhabits Arctic America, reaching 

 the whole of South America in winter, and even straying to Britain. 

 It has also occurred in Franz Josef Land in summer. It somewhat 

 resembles the Dunlin in appearance, and the Purple Sandpiper 

 in habits. The closely allied T. lairdi of nearly all America, 

 which breeds towards the North, is distinguished by the median 

 tail-coverts being brownish ; it has once been observed in South 

 Africa. Another dark-rumped species is T. maculata, the Pectoral 

 Sandpiper, blackish-brown and rufous above, and buff with dusky 

 streaks beneath, the belly being white. It has occurred several 

 times in Britain, but inhabits the " Barren Grounds " from Alaska 

 to Hudson's Bay, and migrates as far as Patagonia. Four greenish- 

 buff eggs with brown blotches are deposited in dry grassy spots. 



