37 



of Suffolk, Norfolk, Yorkshire, and Durham in the autumn. They select for food aquatic insects, 

 small Crustacea, worms, and mollusca. Mr. Stevenson gives the following anecdote : — " Mr. J. H. 

 Gurney informs me that on one occasion when shooting at Salthouse, a Little Stint having been 

 only slightly wounded in the wing, he carried it alive to Cromer, and turned it loose in his room, 

 where, to his surprise, it exhibited so little uneasiness in its new quarters that on the same day 

 it ate flies out of his hand without the least symptom of alarm." 



Our friend Mr. J. Harvie Brown, jun., has very kindly given us the following, extracted from 

 his note-book : — "It is perhaps somewhat curious that this beautiful little wading bird should 

 appear in such small numbers at Grangemouth, as compared with other localities. Whilst at 

 Aberdeen this season no less than sixteen specimens were killed at one shot by a gunner at the 

 mouth of the Don, as Mr. Robert Gray informs me, only two or three solitary birds, accom- 

 panying the flocks of Dunlins, were observed by us on the Avonmouth Shell-bank ; and the only 

 specimen we have ever obtained on this coast was on the 7th September 1870. When flying, the 

 extremely diminutive size of the bird first attracted our attention, as also, if we may so express it, 

 the airier motion of the wings. Mr. E. R. Alston, who was present when it was shot, distinctly 

 heard its note upon the occasion of its first flight across the shell-bank — a whispering, warbling 

 note, very different from the loud trill of the Dunlin. I cannot account for their comparative 

 scarcity here, otherwise than by the absence of sandy coast, combined with the fact that the 

 Stirlingshire shore lies out of the regular course of the migration of the main body, which, I 

 believe, crosses the entrance of the Firth of Forth from the north to the south shores, and does 

 not follow all the sinuosities of the coast-line." 



The adult male in breeding-dress is described from a specimen procured by Dresser at 

 Barcelona, on the 10th of May 1866, and the young in autumn from a bird shot by Sharpe at 

 Pagham, in Sussex, in September 1870 : both these examples are in our collection. The winter 

 plumage is taken from a specimen in Lord Walden's collection, obtained by the late Mr. C. J. 

 Andersson, at Walvisch Bay, in Damaraland, on the 26th of November 1863. 



In the preparation of the above article we have examined the following specimens : — 



E Mus. Sharpe and Dresser. 



a. Rye, Sussex, September 14th, 18G0 (H. E. Dresser), b, c, d, e,f. Pagham, Sussex, September 1870 

 (R. B. Sharjje). g, h, 6 2 . Barcelona, Spain, May 10th, 1866 {H. E. Dresser). i,j. Turkey, June 5th, 

 1871 {T. Robson). k. Eastern Russia {Dr. Renard). 1. Cape Town (E. L. Layard). 



E Mus. A. Basil Brooke, 

 a, 6 . Genoa, spring of 1871 (A. B. B). 



E Mus. Howard Saunders. 



a, S. Valencia, May 1870 [H. S.). b. Fort Manoel, Malta, May 27th, I860 (C. A. Wright), c, ?. Lake 

 Baikal, May 27th, 18G9 (Dybowski). 



