94 BIRDS OF THE DISTRICT OF GEELONG 
but scarcely discernible when the birds reach Australia. 
These little birds associate most with the Curlew 
Sandpiper, and like best to feed on a broad open 
expanse of wet salt mud, such as those from which the 
receding tide pours in streams along the banks of the 
Lower Barwon. They are quite plentiful also at 
the Salt Works from September to April. Some, 
indeed, spend the whole year with us. On June 3rd, 
1 91 2, Mr. Hugh Riordan shot a male in winter 
plumage at the Salt Pits, and I have seen a vast flock 
on Lake Connewarre towards the end of July. In 
appearance the Little Stint is like so many Waders — 
brownish above and pure white below. 
SHARP-TAILED STINT 
Limnocinclus acuminatus 
Threepence per pair is what the shooters get in the 
market for the Sharp-tailed Stint, or Marsh Tringa 
(Teringa it is pronounced " in the trade and yet 
so great are the flocks of this species which annually 
about September arrive in the swamplands of our 
district, that men make quite a good living out of 
them even at that figure. Nor are they to be despised 
as table-birds ; I consider them quite as good eating 
as the Snipe, though of course they are less than 
half the Snipe's size. 
The general plumage is dark grey above, lighter 
below, with a rufous tinge about the head and throat 
on the bird's first arrival, which disappears as the 
