OF THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 269 



regions the bird may also eat ground fruits and small seeds. Its note at the 

 nesting place is a rather shrill whit, but in autumn and winter it utters a chirping 

 cry. This species probably has a trill during the pairing season ; but as Messrs. 

 Seebohm and Harvie -Brown did not reach the breeding grounds of the Little 

 Stint until after this event was over, they probably did not hear it. 



Nidification. — Von Middendorff was the first naturahst to discover the 

 breeding grounds of the Little Stint. Nearly fifty years ago he met with it 

 nesting on the Taimur peninsula, at the eastern limit of its known range. ' In 

 1875 Messrs. Seebohm and Harvie-Brown discovered nesting places of this Stint 

 at the delta of the Petchora, and their interesting accounts of the breeding of this 

 bird in Europe were the first made known to British ornithologists. Since their 

 discoveries, other breeding places have been found in various parts of Arctic 

 Europe, extending as far west as the Porsanger fjord and the North Cape in 

 Northern Norway. At the mouth of the Petchora the breeding grounds of the 

 Little Stint were situated on a comparatively dry and gently sloping part of the 

 tundra close to the inland sea, at the mouth of the great river. Here the tundra 

 was thickly studded with tussocks of grass, and the swampy ground was almost 

 concealed by cotton-grass. These grass tufts were covered with green moss and 

 smaller patches of reindeer moss, the whole almost hidden with a thick growth 

 of cloud-berry and carices, dwarf shrubs, and sundry Arctic flowers. Several 

 of the nests discovered were quite close together. Other nests were found where 

 the ground was more sandy and full of small pools, and covered with short grass 

 and plants. The nest of the Little Stint is merely a slight hollow in the ground, 

 lined with a few dead leaves of the cloud-berry and other scraps of vegetable 

 refuse. The eggs are four in number, and vary in ground-colour from pale 

 greenish-grey to pale brown, spotted and blotched with rich reddish-brown, and 

 with underlying markings of paler brown and grey. Most of the spots and 

 blotches are on the larger end of the egg, as is usual with those of all Waders. 

 They are pyriform, and measure on an average 1"1 inch in length by "8 inch in 

 breadth. They are laid towards the end of June, or early in July. Incubation 

 appears to be performed by both sexes, and one brood only is reared in the year. 

 In some cases the female alone appears to frequent the nest, and when this is 

 approached she makes little demonstration and is remarkably quiet. It should 

 be remarked, however, that Mr. Pearson found the male bird at the nests he 

 discovered. Messrs. Seebohm and Harvie-Brown state that the tameness of 

 the hen bird was sometimes most extraordinary. The former gentleman states 

 that at one nest the female approached within eighteen inches of his hand as 

 he sat beside the eggs, and when his hand was stretched towards her she quietly 

 retreated a couple of feet ; but the moment he left the vicinity of her home she 

 changed her tactics at once, and began fluttering along the ground with quivering 

 wings and outspread tail as if dying. After having a glove thrown at her and 



