The Zoologist — November, 1807. 973 



Green and Wood Sandpipers. — The "wood sandpiper may be dis- 

 tinguished from the green sandpiper, which it closely resembles, by 

 the following characters: — It is rather smaller in size, has propor- 

 tionately a shorter bill and longer tarsus; the legs are lighter in 

 colour, and it has not the white markings under the wings which are 

 conspicuous in the green sandpiper. A marked difference also exists 

 in the tail-feathers. In the green sandpiper the tail is, for the greater 

 part, white, the outside feather on each side with one small dark spot 

 on the outer web near the end ; the next feather with two dark spots; 

 the third and fourth with two rather broad dark bands ; the fifth and 

 sixth with three or four dark bands; but all the marks are on the 

 distal half of the tail-feathers, leaving the basal half pure white. In 

 the wood sandpiper the tail-feathers are barred with narrow transverse 

 white bars on a ground colour of greenish black. The axillary plume 

 in the green sandpiper is grayish black, with narrow angular white 

 bars ; in the wood sandpiper it is white, faintly marked with transverse 

 dusky bars. There is another point also in which these birds differ, 

 and which appears to have been hitherto overlooked. In the wood 

 sandpiper the shaft of the first quill-feather is white, the remaining 

 shafts dusky ; whereas in the green sandpiper the shafts of all the 

 quill-feathers are dusky. 



Little Stint and Temminclis Stint. — Neither Temminck's stint nor 

 the little stint can be considered as anywhere common in Great 

 Britain, neither of them remaining here to breed, and being only 

 found accidentally at the usual periods of migration in spring and 

 autumn. It is probably on this account that so little is known of 

 their habits, and many persons cannot even distinguish them. Tem- 

 minck's stint may be regarded as a miniature common sandpiper, 

 exhibiting a more uniform colour throughout, and having light- 

 coloured legs; while the little stint, like a miniature dunlin, displays 

 a more mottled and varied plumage and has black legs. Nor need the 

 parallel be confined to the plumage only, for as far as our experience 

 goes, Temminck's stint, like the common sandpiper, affects the soft 

 mud around inland pools and marshes, while the little stint, like the 

 dunlin, prefers the sand and shingle of the sea-shore. The chief dis- 

 tinguishing characters of the two species may be briefly set forth as 

 follows : — 



Temminck's Stint. 



Colour more uniform. 



Tarsus light brown, short and blender. 



Little Stint. 



Colour more varied. 



Tarsus black, longer and stouter. 



