298 SCOLOPACIDJE. 



THE LITTLE STINT. 



Little Sandpiper. 

 Tringa minuta, Leisler. 



Is a regular autumnal visitant to Ireland ; appearing 

 in extremely limited numbers. 



About the year 1823, Mr. John Montgomery, when shooting on 

 the extensive sands of Dundrum, county of Down, saw a bird 

 either of this species or the allied Tringa Temminckii, but 

 from its shyness sought in vain to procure it. On September the 

 6th, 1831, the first T. minuta known to me as obtained on the 

 Irish coast was shot in Belfast Bay, and came into the possession 

 of Dr. J. D. Marshall ; its weight was six drachms. It was shot 

 by James Adams at the curve of the river opposite Consbrook, 

 well known to shore- shooters by the name of Adams's Bay, so 

 called in honour of the sporting cobbler just mentioned, who has 

 plied his awl within gunshot of the place for upwards of half a 

 century. About the same time and locality a second specimen 

 was procured by a person who, attracted by its diminutive size, 

 singled out and shot it from the midst of a flock of dunlins. 

 These birds seemed not to relish the society of such a dwarf, as 

 they were observed endeavouring to drive it away. On the 5th 

 of October, a third individual was obtained at the same favoured 

 spot, and several others were seen on the shore. Adams, when 

 questioned on the subject, stated that previous to 1831, he had 

 occasionally shot the stint in the months of September and 

 October. He saw it, and never more than six together, in com- 

 pany with dunlins : both species kept together in flight as well as on 

 the ground, the stint being able to keep wing with its larger com- 

 panion — another shooter, of correct observation, describes the 

 beat of its wing as quicker and its flight more irregular than that 

 of the dunlin. On the 14th of August, 1832, I was informed 

 that during the few preceding days two stints had been seen on 

 the shore of the bay. On the 19th of August, 1833, one was 



