o & 



distincte brunneo striata : gutture albo : pectore superiore cinerascente, plumis medialiter saturate 

 brunneis : corpore reliquo subtus albo. 



Adult Male in breeding-plumage. Above blackish, a few of the feathers on the head and back slightly edged 

 with rufous ; hinder part of the neck inclining to ashy, varied with fulvous, and slightly washed with 

 rufous ; wing-coverts rather more ashy grey, externally margined with rufous or whitish, the greater 

 coverts narrowly edged with white, forming an indistinct alar bar ; quills ashy brown, becoming blacker 

 towards their tips, the shafts whitey brown, with the exception of the outermost quill, which has the 

 shaft white, inclining to brownish only towards the tip, the short quills indistinctly tipped with whitish, 

 and the long secondaries washed on their outer web with rufous ; lower part of the back and rump deep 

 black ; tail very pale ashy-grey, the two middle tail-feathers, which are rather longer than the rest, 

 blackish, like the rump ; lores and an indistinct eyebrow whitish ; sides of the face also whitish, slightly 

 varied with minute spots of brown, the ear-coverts being washed with rufous ; throat white ; chest ashy, 

 mottled with marks of dark brown in the centre of some of the feathers; rest of the under surface of 

 the body white ; under wing-coverts whitish, some of the lower ones, as well as those along the margin 

 of the wing, being mottled with brown; bill blackish brown; feet light yellowish brown; iris dark 

 brown. Total length 4 - 7-5-5 inches, culmen 0-7-0'8, wing 3-3-3-4;5, tail 1-5-1-6, tarsus 07. 



Female. Does not differ materially from the male. 



Male in winter plumage. Ashy grey above, some of the dorsal feathers dark purplish-brown in the centre 

 and margined with whitish; lower part of back and rump blackish; wing-coverts coloured exactly like 

 the back, the greater coverts clearer brown, and indistinctly tipped with white ; wings and tail coloured 

 as in summer ; lores and an indistinct eyebrow whitish ; sides of the face dull white, the feathers in 

 front of the eye, cheeks, and ear-coverts marked with brown ; throat white ; chest ashy brown, with a 

 dark brown centre to a few of the feathers ; rest of the under surface of the body white, the under 

 wing-coverts as in summer. 



Young Male in autumn plumage. Blackish, the head and back varied with rufous markings to the feathers, 

 some of the dorsal feathers and the scapulars edged with whitish ; lower back and rump black ; hinder 

 neck greyish, somewhat mottled with dark brown centres to the feathers; inner wing-coverts con- 

 spicuously margined with pale rusty fulvous ; quills and tail-feathers, as also the facial features, as in 

 the adult ; under surface of the body white, the chest pale greyish- brown, some of the lateral feathers 

 of the breast mottled with dark brown; bill blackish; feet clay-brown; iris dark brown. 



Obs. The chief differences between this species and the European Little Stint have already been stated by 

 us in our review of this section of the Tringince ; but we there omitted to state one very salient point 

 of distinction, which consists in the colour of the legs : in T. minuta they are black, in T. minutilla 

 light yellowish-brown. Further, the American Stint is much smaller in size and blacker in colour, 

 while its bill, being about the same size as that of T. minuta, has the appearance of being abnormally 

 long. 



Explanation of the Plate. The illustration on the right-hand side of the Plate represents the American 

 Stint in breeding- dress, while the hinder figure is that of a young bird in its first autumn plumage. 

 On the left we have given a portrait of T>-inga minuta in full winter plumage. 



The present species has occurred twice in England ; and we are indebted to Mr. Harting for the 

 following note as to its capture in this country (from his ' Handbook of British Birds,' just 



