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SCOLOPACIDiE. 
THE LITTLE STINT. 
Little Sandpiper. 
Tringa minuta, Leisler. 
Is a regular autumnal visitant to Ireland ; appearing 
in extremely limited numbers. 
About the year 1823^ Mr. John Montgomery, when shooting on 
the extensive sands of Dnndrnm, county of Down, saw a bird 
either of this species or the allied Tringa Temminchii, but 
from its shyness sought in vain to procure it. On September the 
6th, 1831, the first T, minuta known to me as obtained on the 
Irish coast was shot in Belfast Bay, and came into the possession 
of Dr. J. D. Marshall; its weight was six draclnns. It was shot 
by James Adams at the curve of the river opposite Consbrook, 
well known to shore- shooters by the name of Adamses Bay, so 
called in honour of the sporting cobbler just mentioned, who has 
plied his awl within gunshot of the place for upwards of half a 
century. About the same time and locality a second specimen 
was procured by a person who, attracted by its diminutive size, 
singled out and shot it from the midst of a flock of dunlins. 
These birds seemed not to relish the society of such a dwarf, as 
they were observed endeavouring to drive it away. On the 5th 
of October, a third individual was obtained at the same favoured 
spot, and several others were seen on the shore. Adams, when 
questioned on the subject, stated that previous to 1831, he had 
occasionally shot the stint in the months of September and 
October. He saw it, and never more than six together, in com- 
pany with dunlins : both species kept together in flight as well as on 
the ground, the stint being able to keep wing with its larger com- 
panion — another shooter, of correct observation, describes the 
beat of its wing as quicker and its flight more irregular than that 
of the dunlin. On the I4th of August, 1832, I was informed 
that during the few preceding days two stints had been seen on 
the shore of the bay. On the 1 9th of August, 1833, one was 
