590 TEMMINCK’S STINT. 
Ireland in January 1848: a very remarkable date, inasmuch as, with 
this exception, the bird has not been known to remain during the 
winter in the United Kingdom. 
Temminck’s Stint breeds as far south as Trondhjem in Norway, 
and in those parts of Sweden, Russia and Siberia which lie beyond 
the limits of forest-growth ; also, it is said, in the Stanowoi Moun- 
tains. On its migrations, which extend ‘to the Malay Archipelago, 
it visits China, crosses the Asian tableland to India, and descends 
both sides of Africa, to lat 10° N. on the east side and to Sene- 
gambia on the west. A considerable number, however, spend the 
winter in the Mediterranean basin, and on passage the bird is found 
on the shores as well as on many of the inland waters of Europe ; 
it is, in fact, far more partial than the Little Stint to rivers, lakes 
and ponds. 
The nidification of this species was first made known to us by 
Wolley, who found the bird breeding, somewhat locally, to the 
north of the Gulf of Bothnia. The nest, seldom far from water, is 
a scantily-lined depression in sedge, rushes or short grass; the eggs, 
4 in number, vary from pale buff to greenish-grey, blotched with 
several shades of brown: measurements 1°1 by *8 in. Prof. Collett 
never found the females near the nest or young, and the brooding- 
birds which he shot were all males with large incubation-spots ; but 
the Rev. H. H. Slater, Mr. Popham and others have shot females 
from the nest. In the courting-season both birds may be seen 
hovering or floating in the air like butterflies, uttering a “very 
musical little warble” (H. H. Slater). The usual call-note in 
autumn is a sharp f/irr. The food consists of worms, marine 
insects, and larvee of Staphylinide ; fragments of grit being taken to 
aid digestion. 
The adult in summer-plumage has the feathers of the upper 
parts greyish-brown with darker streaks, and with broad blackish 
bars on the mantle; the shaft of the outer primary nearly white, 
the other shafts dusky, like the rest of the quills ; wing-coverts 
tipped with white; the two outer. pairs of tail-feathers white; 
throat and breast buffish-brown with darker streaks; under parts 
and axillaries white ; bill blackish; legs and feet greenish-grey in 
life. Length 5°75 in. (bill -6), wing 3°8 in. The sexes are alike in 
plumage. After the autumn moult the dark markings on the back 
are lost, and the general colour is similar to that of the Common 
Sandpiper. In the young bird the upper feathers are tipped with 
grey; the breast shows few spots ; the outer tail-feathers are less 
purely white, and the legs are yellowish. 
