GAME BIRDS AND WILD FOWL. 279 



wintering in the Malay Archipelago and Australia. The Eastern 

 form of the Little Stint, only subspecifically distinct and completely 

 intergrading with its Western representative. Typical examples 

 in breeding plumage differ from the Little Stint in having the 

 underparts, from the chin to the breast inclusive, unspotted chest- 

 nut, and the two central tail feathers uniform brownish black. 

 In the Little Stint the chin and throat are white, and the breast 

 is streaked with chestnut. The two forms are, however, indis- 

 tinguishable in winter plumage. T. suhminuta and T. subminuta 

 minutilla, treated of in the next chapter. 



Time during which the Little Stint may he taken.— 



August I St to March ist. 



Habits. — British naturalists and sportsmen only have the 

 opportunity of meeting with the Little Stint during the period of 

 its autumn and spring migrations along our coasts. In autumn it 

 begins to arrive in August, but the majority appear in September 

 and remain until October before passing on still further to the 

 south. It is a late bird of passage in spring with us, not arriving 

 before May in any numbers, lingering with us often until the 

 middle of June, then starting north for the Arctic tundras, where 

 it breeds. During its sojourn on the British coasts it chiefly 

 frequents the low shores where mud-flats abound, and broad 

 reaches of sand supply it with haunts where food is ever plenti- 

 ful. It also frequents salt marshes, and is pretty partial to the 

 wide estuaries of East Anglia. Here it is frequently to be met 

 with in the company of Dunlins and other little birds of the shore. 

 It usually migrates in flocks of varying size which, when alarmed, 

 perform various graceful evolutions in the air before settling again. 

 Even during the breeding season the Little Stint is a remarkably 

 social bird, and small parties collect round the shores of the 

 moorland pools to feed. The immature non-breeding birds 

 appear to keep in large flocks in the summer quarters throughout 

 their stay ; and whilst the females are busy incubating, the adult 

 males often form into considerable bands. When on the coasts 

 of our islands its habits are very similar to those of the Dunlin. 

 Like that bird it is almost constantly in motion, running hither 

 and thither about the mud and sand in a restless manner, and 

 even wading through the shallows, but it appears never to swim 



