TRINGA TEMMINCKI. 893 



A female (same locality, May) is in similar plumage, the fulvous edgings of the upper surface somewhat lighter, and 

 the chest not brown. 



Young nestling (Warsilkova, Petchora, July). Ground-colour of upper surface buff-grey ; crown and nape black, 

 mottled with pale buff, the dark colour descending in a stripe to the base of the bill, on each side of which a light 

 stripe runs back into the black of the crown ; a fine dark line through the lores ; back and wings marked with 

 black, mottled with pale buff ; under surface whitish ; lower part of fore neck and across the throat buff. Bill at 

 front 032 inch ; tarsus 0-52 ; middle toe 0-52. 



The dusky colour of the upper surface characterizes the nestling of this species. 



Young in first autumn. Upper plumage brown, the feathers tipped with rufescent buff on the back and wing-coverts, 

 the scapulars and tertials margined with the same ; chest and breast tinged with buff. 



Obs. I append some measurements of Indian specimens, as illustrative of the size of what may be presumed to be 



Asiatic-bred individuals, and which were taken from Furreedpore birds : — 

 Males. Length 6-0 to 6-25 inches; wing 3-28 to 3-62, expanse 11-25 to 11-50 : tail 1-83 to 2-0; tarsus 0-6 to 0-66 ; 



bill from gape 0-66 to 0-68, at front 0-66 to 0-68. Weight 0-87 to 1-12 oz. (C'ripps.) 

 Females. Length 6-10 to 6'3 inches ; wing 3-66 to 3-83, expanse 11-5; tail 2-0 to 2-25; tarsus 0-66 ; bill from gape 



0-66 to 0-7, at front 0-64 to 0-66. Weight 0-132 oz. (?). 

 The example from Ceylon above alluded to exceeds any of the above. For the better discrimination one from the 



other of the several small Stints inhabiting Ceylon, I subjoin a diagnosis of their respective characters in winter 



plumage : — 

 (a) T. minuta. Forehead and eye-stripe white ; feathers of back pale-edged and light brown in the centre ; first 



shaft white, remainder brown at the base and white near the tips ; two outer tail-feathers pale brownish : chest 



very lightly streaked with brownish grey ; middle toe shorter than tarsus, not exceeding - 7 inch ; legs blackish or 



blackish leaden. 

 (5) T. subminuta. Forehead brown ; back-feathers very dark brown in the centre ; first shaft white, remainder all 



brown ; two outer tail-feathers pale brownish ; chest with dark shaft-stripes to the feathers ; middle toe erptal to 



the tarsus, attaining 0-9 inch in length ; legs olivaceous, 

 (c) T. temminchi. Centre of the forehead brown ; almost uniform brown above; first quill-shaft white, remainder all 



brown ; two outer tail-feathers pure white : chest brownish. 



Distribution. — I procured the specimen above described on the Tamblegam flats, where I shot it out of 

 a flock of Little Stints which were frequenting the mud in a small tidal creek a mile or so from the shore. I 

 am unable to say whether there were more examples than one, for it fell, with two or three of the latter species, 

 to a shot fired into the flock. I never met with an example afterwards ; and it has never been otherwise 

 recorded from the island. It is, however, doubtless a yearly straggler to Ceylon, and passes unnoticed while 

 mixing with the thousands of Little Stints that one sees. 



In India it is found both on the sea-coast and in the interior. The Rev. Dr. Fairbank is the only natu- 

 ralist that has observed it in the Deccan, whence he records it as occurring at Ahmednagar. Mr. Ball notes 

 it from Hazaribagh, Lohardugga, and Orissa, to the north of the Mahanadi river, as also from the Godaveri 

 valley, while Mr. Hume records it from Raipur; the same author states that it is pretty common about 

 Calcutta; and in Furreedpore it is "common in every pool of water and along the banks of rivers and creeks" 

 (Cripps), being one of the earliest summer visitors in this part. It has been obtained once in Pegu by 

 Mr. Oates; but in the Irrawaddy delta, where one would suppose it to be common, it was not noticed by 

 Dr. Armstrong. Further south, in Tenasserim, writes Mr. Hume, "it is pretty common about inland creeks 

 and pools in the central portion of the province, and again in the tracts west of the Sittang." In this direction 

 it does not seem to extend further south, nor has it been seen in the Andamans, although it may have been 

 passed over there as in Ceylon. 



In the north-west of India it is found in small flocks about tanks between Deesa and Ahmedabad in 

 Guzerat ; and it was met with commonly in Sindh by Mr. Hume, who states that it is distributed through all the 

 adjacent provinces. It remains in the north of India until May, when it may be shot in full summer plumage. 

 Its earliest arrival in Guzerat is, according to Captain Butler, the 5th of August. In Turkestan Severtzoff 



5y2 



