TRINGA SUBARQUATA. 
883 
on dissection, and the female was in perfect winter plumage. The flight of this species is very strong, and 
when going down-wind they proceed with great speed ; the white rump is very conspicuous when they are on 
the wing. Their note is in tone like that of T. minuta, hut it is stronger. The diet I have always found to 
consist of small aquatic insects ; and the flesh of this Stint is very good eating. Dr. Saxby publishes some 
interesting notes on the species as observed in the Shetland Isles, and remarks that when they mix with 
Dunlins they cease thinking of their own movements, leaving themselves entirely under the direction of their 
new friends. At high water he found that they resorted to stubble-fields to repose, and were so little on the 
alert that they would allow themselves to be walked up to before taking notice of the intruder. He writes : 
“I once winged a Curlew Sandpiper from a mixed flock ; and as it fell upon a small shingle bank surrounded by 
the water, about a dozen of its own species, separating themselves from the Dunlins, alighted upon the shingle 
and began feeding ; and when I threw stones over them, wishing to drive the wounded bird into the water, 
so that it might drift ashore, the only effect was to cause them to crouch down as if a Hawk were passing- 
over ; and it was not until I had waded within a few yards of them that they flew off and rejoined their late 
companions.” 
Nidification . — The Pygmy Curlew doubtless breeds in tlvc extreme north of Siberia, as on the Taimyr river 
Von Middendorff killed a specimen in June with a partially-shelled egg in its oviduct ; but he did not succeed 
in finding the eggs, the discovery of which, together with those of the Knot, yet remain to reward the labours 
of some adventurous ornithologist. An American writer has lately announced the taking of this Stint s eggs 
in Greenland; but Captain Feilden is of opinion that they have been mistaken for the Dunlin s. 
5 x 
