56 



sight as they turn and show the white of the underparts. They appear to feed indiscriminately 

 upon soft aquatic animals small enough to pass their narrow throats, and also gather the seeds 

 of maritime and other aquatic plants. They probe for things in the mud like others of their 

 kind, sticking their bill in to the full length, and leaving in their wake a series of little holes 

 where they dipped in, now right, now left, as they pattered along." 



We are also indebted to our friend Mr. Osbert Salvin for the subjoined observations : — 

 " Though not recorded from Costa Rica, we have a specimen from that country collected by 

 Endres, and it was found near Panama by the late Mr. MacLeannan. Mr. W. S. Wood, who 

 was attached to Lieutenant Michler's Expedition to Darien, found this Stint very common at 

 Cartagena in November 1857 ; and Dr. Habel procured two examples on Indefatigable Island, 

 one of the Galapagos archipelago. The instances recorded of the occurrence of this species on 

 the continent of South America are not numerous. Mr. Wallace obtained it on the Island of 

 Mexiana, at the mouth of the Amazon ; and Natterer secured two specimens in Brazil, at 

 probably the outskirts of its southern range — one at Cuyaba in April, and the other in the 

 hacienda of Captain Gama, in Matto Grosso, in September. From Bahia we have a specimen 

 sent us by Dr. Wucherer. Returning to the West Indies, we find Tringa minutilla apparently 

 common in many of the islands in autumn and winter. Gundlach records it from Cuba, where 

 it is very common from September till May. Mr. Gosse observed it in Jamaica; and also 

 Mr. March in the same island. The latter observer (Pr. Ac. Phil. 1864, p. 67) says that the 

 species is found throughout the year, and that they breed on the salinas and sandy beach, laying 

 three or four eggs on the bare sand; these are described as yellowish, splashed with reddish 

 brown and greyish spots, principally about the larger end. Mr. March adds that he has eggs 

 from the Great Salt Pond and Passage Fort. From Our knowledge both of the nesting-habits of 

 this species in other parts of America, and also of those of its immediate congeners, it seems 

 more than probable that Mr. March has here misidentified these eggs, which belong more likely 

 to a small JEgialitis. We have Jamaica specimens which were collected in Metcalfe parish by 

 the late Mr. Osburn. The Messrs. Newton observed the species in Ste. Croix, usually in pairs, 

 frequenting both the sea-shore and ' pastures.' It appears there in autumn, and was first 

 observed in 1858 on the 19 th of August. According to Leotaud T. minutilla visits Trinidad 

 from August to October, being sometimes seen alone, but at others associated with Heteropoda 

 semipalmata. 



" In Mexico Tringa minutilla has been observed near Orizaba by M. Salle's correspondent, 

 and also in the valley of Mexico by Mr. White. In Guatemala it is a regular winter visitant, 

 arriving in the autumn and departing again in spring ; but it would appear to be only found along 

 the coast throughout the winter, visiting the shores of the highland lakes en passant. I found 

 it in some numbers on the shores of the Pacific Ocean, near the mouth of the Rio Nagualate, in 

 March 1858, and also at Chiapam during my excursion to that district in the early part of 

 1863. An account of this expedition is given in the pages of ' The Ibis' for 1865. In November 

 1861 Mr. Godman and I found it in the grassy swamp which surrounds the small Lake of 

 Duenas, in the highlands of Guatemala, nearly 5000 feet above the sea-level." 



Eggs of this Stint in Dresser's collection, procured in the Hudson's-Bay territory, measure 

 I-jtj by ff inch, and in colour are pale stone-grey, closely spotted with purplish brown, the spots 



