TRINGA SUBARQUATA. 883 



on dissection, and the female was in perfect -winter plumage. The flight of this species is very strong, and 

 when going down- wind they proceed with great speed ; the white rump is very conspicuous when they are on 

 the wing. Their note is in tone like that of T. minuta, but it is stronger. The diet I have ahvays found to 

 consist of small aquatic insects; and the flesh of this Stint is very good eating. Dr. Saxby publishes some 

 interesting notes on the species as observed in the Shetland Isles, and remarks that when they mix with 

 Dunlins they cease thinking of their own movements, leaving themselves entirely under the direction of their 

 new friends. At high water he found that they resorted to stubble-fields to repose, and were so little on the 

 alert that they would allow themselves to be walked up to before taking notice of the intruder. He w r rites : — 

 "I once winged a Curlew Sandpiper from a mixed flock ; and as it fell upon a small shingle bank surrounded by 

 the water, about a dozen of its own species, separating themselves from the Duulins, alighted upon the shingle 

 and began feeding ; and when I threw stones over them, wishing to drive the wounded bird into the water, 

 so that it might drift ashore, the only effect was to cause them to crouch down as if a Hawk were passing 

 over ; and it was not until I had waded within a few yards of them that they flew off and rejoined their late 

 companions." 



Nidifi cation. — The Pygmy Curlew doubtless breeds in the extreme north of Siberia, as on the Taimyr river 

 Von Middendorff killed a specimen in June with a partially-shelled egg in its oviduct ; but he did not succeed 

 in finding the eggs, the discovery of which, together with those of the Knot, yet remain to reward the labours 

 of some adventurous ornithologist. An American writer has lately announced the taking of this Stint's eggs 

 in Greenland; but Captain Feilden is of opinion that they have been mistaken for the Dunlin's. 



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