298 CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE ORNITHOLOGY OF INDIA. 



after my return from the Nicobars in March." I, however once 

 saw a small party of three or four on the northern coast of the 

 Great Nicobar, and this was the only time I saw it. 



From October to April this species is common, but we also 

 have specimens shot in June and July, neither of which are 

 in full summer plumage, though birds killed at the end of 

 April in India are already in full summer plumage. 



884.— Tringa minuta, Leisler. (12.) 



The little stint was not uncommon in the Andamans and 

 Nicobars, we only preserved seven specimens, how this hap- 

 pened I cannot tell, but it is to be regretted as Lord Walden 

 identifies a specimen he received from the Andamans with 

 albescens, Temm. His bird was killed on the 24th January, 

 and I venture to question whether it is possible to distinguish 

 certainly minuta and albescens in winter plumage. All our 

 specimens too, though killed on very various dates from Decem- 

 ber to June,* were in winter plumage, so that I cannot positively 

 assert that they are not albescens, but they are absolutely 

 identical with specimens obtained in other parts of India and 

 Europe. In some the tarsi are slightly stouter, in others slightly 

 slenderer, just as much as is the case in European and Indian 

 specimens of the same bird, and no more. 



Davison remarks : — " I met with a small flock of this little 

 stint in December, at Aberdeen, South Andaman, and obtained 

 four specimens, they were feeding along the dams in the paddy 

 fields ; at the Nicobars I met with it on several occasions, 

 always on the sea shore, in flocks varying from twenty to fifty 

 or more. I did not observe it after the 2nd of February." 



886.— Tringa platyrhyncha, Temm. (3.) 



I never met with this species on any of the islands of the 

 Bay of Bengal, and it must, I think, therefore be rare. Davison 

 savs ; — " I only met with a few of these birds at the Andamans, 

 they were associating with a small flock of T. minuta. I did 

 not observe them at the Nicobars." 



891.— Totanus glareola, Lin. (3.) 



Not common in the islands, but Davison says : — " This bird is 

 occasionally met with about the swamps and paddy fields at 

 Port Blair. I did not observe it at the Nicobars, but it most 



* Five of our specimens were killed in the first week in June, but not one of them 



exhibit the smallest traces of summer plumage. 



