238 On the Occurrence of some of the Rarer Species of Birds 



and Discovery to the North Pole, they found the young 1 birds just 

 hatched, I believe ; but, if I remember right, could not meet with 

 any eggs, which have scarcely, if ever, been found. The bird itself 

 can be easily distinguished from all others of its tribe, by its short 

 plump figure. 



Tringa Temminckii. "Temminck's Stint." One of the very 

 smallest of the Sandpipers ; occasionally found at the river's mouth, 

 nearer than which, of course, there is but little chance of meeting 

 with it. There were several specimens procured in 1 881 ; and Hart 

 killed three on September 14th of that year ; and two more on the 

 16th of the same month were killed by a gunner of the name of 

 Derham. 



Tringa Minuta. " Little Stint." Another small species, a trifle 

 bigger than the last-named, but having nothing to spare to win the 

 prize for minuteness. Almost yearly a specimen or two occurs in 

 the Christchurch Harbour. There is one way by which you can at 

 once distinguish between this and Temminck's Stint, which at all 

 times is not easy to do ; which is, that in the latter the outer tail 

 feathers are always white, while in the Little Stint they are of a 

 pale brown colour. These distinctions, mentioned to me by Cecil 

 Smith, Esq., of Somerset, are worth remembering in such birds as 

 this, as anyone may be very easily at a loss to determine what they 

 really are, especially in their first plumage. 



Tringa Maritima. " Purple Sandpiper." Also found on our 

 neighbouring coasts occasionally. Five of these birds were killed 

 by Mr. Hart and a friend of his in the autumn of 1860. I have a 

 pair in my collection, from Teignmouth. They would seem to be 

 peculiarly addicted to rocky places, more than any other of the 

 Sandpipers ; and the remarkable purple gloss on their feathering, 

 and a certain general plumpness of figure, at once distinguishes 

 them from others of their tribe — as well as the bright orange colour 

 of their legs. 



Tringa Variabilis. " Purre," or " Dunlin." The most numerous 

 of all its tribe, and to be found in many places on our coasts, in 

 flocks, not only of hundreds, but simply of thousands. At Sturt 

 Island, off Burnham, as mentioned before, when some way off, they 



