OP THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 287 



and floating in the air, although it is sometimes heard as the 

 bird runs along the ground with uplifted wings. The nest is 

 usually made near water, often on low islands at the delta of a 

 river which are clothed with willows and long grass. It is 

 merely a hollow amongst the sedge, rushes, or grass, scantily 

 lined with dry grass and withered leaves. The eggs are four in 

 number, ranging from pale buff to pale olive in ground colour, 

 spotted and blotched with reddish brown and dark brown, and 

 with underlying markings of paler brown and gray. On some 

 eggs a few dark, nearly black streaks occur. They are pyriform 

 in shape, and measure on an average it inch in length by '85 

 inch in breadth. When its breeding grounds are invaded 

 Temminck's Stint becomes exceedingly demonstrative and noisy, 

 and often betrays the whereabouts of its nest by careering wildly 

 about above it. When the nest is actually discovered it becomes 

 much quieter, and its actions closely resemble those of the Little 

 Stint under similar conditions. Incubation seems always to be 

 performed by the male, and it is he that is so excited and 

 alarmed when the nest is threatened by danger. Only one 

 brood is reared in the year, and as soon as the young are able to 

 fly the breeding grounds begin to be deserted. 



Diagnostic Characters. — Tringa, with the outer rectrices 

 pure white. Length, 6 inches. 



