SCOLOPACID.E. ODD 



anywhere in Devonshire at the present time, and the oi.ly place where 

 the birds have, without any doubt, bred of recent years in the south- 

 west of Enghmd is on the Eodmin Moors in Cornwall, not far from the 

 Jamaica Inn, and near Dosmare Pool. Here several nests were found by 

 Mr. Francis llodd, of Trebartha, on July 8th, lb68. At the end of July 

 ]876 we visited this localit}', and found several Dunlin still on the grouncl, 

 but were, of course, too late for the nests. In the West of Scotland, as 

 well as on the Hebrides and other islands, Dunlin breed numerously in 

 company with Golden Plover, and are called for this reason " Plover's 

 pages.'' The Hev. Charles Swainson derives the word Dunlin from the 

 dun colour (presumably) of the winter plumage. 



A few specimens of the small race named Trinr/a schinzii by Brehm 

 were killed at Plymouth iu August 187G (J. G., Zool. 1876, p, 5100). 



Little Stint. Tringa mimita, Leisler, 



A passing visitor, of occasional occurrence in May, and more fre;juenth' 

 seen in August, September, and October. Flocks of considerable size are 

 sometimes noticed both on the North and South Coast, wherever the shores 

 are sandy. One killed at Plymouth, Dec. 9th, 1875, in full winter plumage 

 is the only specimen known to have occurred so late in the year (Zool. 

 1876, p. 4784). 



This minute species of Sandpiper makes its appearance on our shores 

 early in the autumn from the extreme north of Europe. Its nesting- 

 habitat was unknown until the summer of 1875, when Messrs. Seebohm 

 and Harvie-Browu detected it breeding on the " tundras," or marshy flats, 

 near the mouth of the Petchora river in jS^orth Eussia — a wonderful sum- 

 mer home for our rarer Tringse, as there was reason to suppose that, 

 besides the Little Stint, other species, whose eggs are almost unknown to 

 collectors, such as the Sandcrling and Curlew Sandjjiper, also nested either 

 on the marshes or on some of the islands in the river. The eggs of the 

 Little Stint are said to rcseml)le those of the Dunlin in miniature. 

 Besides the eggs of this small Sandpiper, Mr. Harvie-lirown also pro- 

 cured some of its young in down, and in Mr. Dresser's ' Pirds of Europe ' 

 (vol. viii.) is a pretty illustration rejjrcsenting the young of the Little Stint, 

 Tomminck's Stint, and the Common Dunlin, all very much alike. We 

 have so often encountered the Little Stint in September and October on 

 the sands of the Parnstaple river, either in little flocks of ten or a dozen, or 

 else singly or in pairs among flocks of Curlew Sandpipers and Duulin, that 

 wo consider it almost a regular autumn visitor to North Devon. The 

 ]{ev. Marcus llickards shot one Vjy the same pond on the Prauuton Ikirrows 

 where he obtained the Pectoral Sandpipers, and a pair on the mnd-llat at 

 West Ajipledore, and noticed others on the sands at Instow. We never 

 saw any Little Stints after the middle of October, by which time they had 

 all gone off further to the south, and one in the winter plumage obtained 

 in the S.W. of JOngland we have never seen, althougli we liave speci- 

 mens from Brighton. Nor have we ever seen a Little Stint in the spiing 



