436 



TRLNGA. 



Variations. The Little Stints east of the Taimyr Peninsula have so much more red on the breast in 

 summer plumage that they may fairly be regarded as subspecifically distinct. 



Synonymy. Tringa ciuclus minor, Brisson, Orn. v. p. 215 (1760). 



Tringa pusilla, Linn, apud Latham, Gen. Syn. Suppl. i. p. 292 (1787). 



Tringa minuta, Leisler, Nachtr. Bechst. Naturg. Deutschl. i. p. 74 (1812). 



Pelidna minuta {Linn.), Boie, Isis, 1826, p. 979. 



Actodromas minuta (Linn.), Kaup, Naturl. Syst. p. 55 (1829). 



Calidris minuta (Leisl.), Cuvier, Regne An. i. p. 526 (1829). 



Schoeniclus minuta (Linn), Gray, List Birds Brit. Mus. iii. p. 106 (1844). 



Literature. Plates. — Gould, Birds Gt. Brit. iv. pi. 72; Dresser, Birds of Europe, viii.pl. 549. fig. 2, pi. 551. 



fig. 1. 

 Habits.— Seebohm, British Birds, iii. p. 204. 



Eggs. — Seebohm & Harvie Brown, Ibis, 1876, pi. vii. ; Seebohm, British Birds, pi. 31. figs. 10, 

 11, 12. 



Specific 

 characters. 



Geographi- 

 cal distribu- 

 tion. 



The Little Stint may be diagnosed from all its congeners (except from the Red-throated 

 Stint, which is merely the Eastern form of the Little Stint) by the following characters : 

 wing less than four inches (measured from the carpal joint) ; bill narrow, broadest at the 

 base ; legs and toes black. 



It is not known that T. minuta and T. minuta riificollis differ in any respect from each 

 other in winter plumage, but in breeding-dress they are generally distinct enough. The 

 Western form has a white chin and throat, but the breast is streaked with chestnut ; whilst 

 the Eastern form has the chin, throat, and upper breast uniform chestnut. 



The Little Stint breeds in great numbers, though very locally, on the Siberian tundras 

 above the limit of forest-growth from the North Cape to the Taimyr Peninsula. It has also 

 been seen in summer on Waigatz Island and on Nova Zembla, and doubtless breeds in 

 both these localities. It passes along the European coasts, the valleys of the Kama and 

 the Volga, and through West Siberia and Turkestan on migration, to winter in suitable 

 localities throughout Africa, including the valley of the Nile and Central Africa, where 

 Bohni obtained it near Lake Tanganyika (Matschie, Journ. Orn. 1887, p. 13S). It also 

 winters in Persia, India, Ceylon, and Burma. 



It belongs to a small group of dwarf Sandpipers or Stints of which eight forms are 

 known, having wings less than four inches in length. Two of these have distinct webs at 

 the bases of the toes, and are therefore placed in another genus. Six belong to the genus 



