TRINGA MINUTA. 



(THE LITTLE STINT.) 



Tringa minuta, Leisler, Nachtr. Bechst. Nat. Deutschl. i. p. 74 (1811) ; Gould, B. of Eur. iv. 



pi. 332 (1837); Middendorff, Sibir. Keise, ii. p. 221 (1853); Kelaart, Prodromus, C;it. 



p. 134 (1852); Layavd, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1854, xiv. p. 2G5 ; Jerdon, B. of Ind. 



iii. p. 690 (18G4) ; Sharpe & Dresser, B. of Eur. pt. 7 (1871-72) ; Holdsworth, P. Z. S. 



1872, p. 474 ; Hume, Str. Feath. 1873, p. 242 ; Adam, t. c. p. 390 ; Legge, t. c. p. 491 ; 



Von Heuglin, Orn. N.Ost-Afr. ii. p. 1189 (1873) ; Hume, Str. Feath. 1874, p. 298 ; 



Legge, Ibis, 1875, p. 402; id. Str. Feath. 1875, p. 205; Butler & Hume, ibid. 1876, 



p. 17; Armstrong, t.c. p. 342; Seebohm & Harvie Brown, Ibis, 1876, p. 294, pi. vii. ; 



Hume, Str. Feath. 1878 (B. of Tenass.), p. 461; Ball, ibid. 1878, vii. p. 228; Hume, 



ibid. 1879 (List B. of Ind.), p. 113. 

 Pelidna minuta, Boie, Isis, 1826, p. 979. 

 The Little Sandpiper, Latham ; The Dwarf Sandpiper, Kelaart; Zwergstrandldufer, German ; 



Kunaku, Samoyedes on the Taimyr river (Middendorff) ; Krungi in Amoor Land (Schrenck). 



Chota pan-loha, Hind. (Jerdon); Kotan, Ceylonese Tamils. 



Winter plumage (Ceylon). Adult male and female. Length 5'8 to 6'1 inches; wing 3 - 6 to 3'9o ; tail 1"6 to 1-8; 

 tarsus 0-8 ; middle toe and claw 075 ; bill to gape 0-7 to - 75, at front 0-71 to 0-76. 



Iris brown ; bill black ; legs and feet deep leaden, in some with the centre of the tarsus pale or greenish. 



Head, back, and wings greyish brown, darkening into blackish brown on the lower back, and into black on the upper 

 tail-coverts ; the centres of the feathers on the light portions dark brown, occupying a considerable portion of the 

 feather on the back and scapulars ; least wing-coverts uniform brown ; quills blackish brown, the shorter 

 primaries edged, and the secondaries and greater coverts (the latter very broadly) tipped with white ; all the 

 primary-shafts white ; tertials and centre tail-feathers sepia-brown, edged with fulvous-grey, the remaining tail- 

 feathers gradually paler to the outermost ; a dark stripe through the lores ; above it a broad supercilium extending 

 across the forehead ; face, throat, fore neck, and all beneath, with the sides of the rump, white ; beneath the eye 

 and the ear-coverts brownish, striped on the upper part of the cheeks in most with white ; sides of the chest, 

 brownish grey in some. 



Summer plumage (Valley of the Yenesay, lat. l\h°, August 8, 1877). Females. Wing 3-7 to 3'75 inches; tail 1*7 j 



tarsus 0-8 to 0-9 ; middle toe and claw 0-78 to 0-8 ; bill to gape 0-75 to 0-78. 

 (Petchora, July 22, 1875.) Wing 3-8 inches; tarsus 0-8 ; middle toe and claw 0'71. 



( Yenesay). Top of the head, back, scapulars, and tertials black, the feathers edged with rufous-tawny ; hind neck 

 and sides of head yellowish tawny ; feathers of the crown clearly edged with rufous-tawny, the black not 

 extending down to the bill, above which, on the forehead, the feathers are dusky ; face and ear-coverts tawny, 

 streaked with dusky grey, which forms a sort of streak through the lores ; on the hind neck the dark centres are 

 narrow, the tawny colour predominating ; rufous margins of the scapulars broader than on the upper back ; loner 

 back and rump uniform blackish brown ; upper tail-coverts and central tail-feathers edged with rufous of the 

 same hue as the tertials ; some of the greater wing-coverts margined with rufescent ; remaining tail-feathers pale 

 brownish as in winter, the two outer pairs whitish beneath ; throat white, tinged with rufescent, the centres of 

 the fore-neck feathers with dark terminal spots ; from the chest to the vent white, slightly tinged with buff. 



This example is in richer plumage than the others, which have the tawny of the hind neck and sides of a paler hue ; 

 the throat almost white, with the fore-nock spots more clearly defined and the feathers not so uniformly tinged 

 with rufous. The characteristic of the Petchora specimen is its more uniformly black head and back. This dress, 

 which is mostly assumed by change of colour in the feathers, is commenced as early as March in Ceylon, the 

 scapulars and tertials being the first to change. 



