ACTODROMAS MINUTA. 
Little Stint. 
Tringa mimita, Leisl. Nacht. zu Bechst. Naturg. Deutsclil., tom. i. p. 74. 
cinclus, Pall. Zoog. Ross.-Asiat., tom. ii. p. 201. 
ptisilla, Wolf et Meyer, Taschenb. Deutschl. Vbg., tom. ii. p. 391. 
— Temminckii, Koch, Baier. Zool., tom. i. p. 292. 
Pelidna minuta, Boie, Isis, 1826, p. 979. 
ptisilla, Brehm, Vbg. Deutschl., p, 666. 
Actodromas minuta, Kaup, Natiirl. Syst., p. 55. 
Although this pretty species of Sandpiper has been very frequently killed in England and repeatedly in 
Ireland, its presence can never be looked for with certainty ; moreover it does not breed with ns ; for 
though specimens occur in the red or nuptial dress, they are merely en route to the northern regions to 
deposit their eggs and rear their little progenies in countries almost unknown to us, the only record I find 
of their breeding in any place being that mentioned by Dr. David Walker in his “ Notes on the Voyage of 
‘The Fox,’” who says, “The winter of 1858-59 was spent at Port Kennedy, in the mouth of Bellot Straits, 
72° IF N., 94° W. Early in June numbers of Tr'inga minuta and T. interpres were found breeding in the 
marshy valleys.” It is indeed most remarkable that (with this exception, if Dr. Walker is correct as to the 
identity of the species seen -by him) the true incubating home of a bird which ranges over Europe, the 
whole of Africa, Asia Minor, Persia, India, China, and Japan should not have been discovered. 
With regard to the connexion of the Little Stint with our avifauna, Mr. Yarrell says : — “The species was 
first mentioned by Pennant as a British Bird from a specimen killed in Cambridgeshire, and is most frequent 
on the southern and eastern shores of this country. Indeed, from the eastern localities comprised 
within the geographical range of this bird, it is probable that it seldom comes so far westward as the 
British Islands, when on its way, in the spring, to the high northern latitudes in which a portion of them 
every year produce their young.” He then proceeds to mention that the appearance of both old and young- 
birds in autumn in the vicinity of the Solway has several times been recorded, that it has occurred in the 
western part of Lancashire, that from forty to fifty were seen on the Laira mud-banks near Plymouth in 
October 1840, that the bird has been frequently observed on the coast of Sussex, that he had obtained them 
in the London markets in the summer and winter plumage, but most frequently in that of autumn (when, 
indeed, they are more common than at any other period of the year), that a flock of thirty was seen in 
Romney Marsh, 1839, and that they are numerous bn the coasts of Suffolk, Norfolk, Yorkshire, and Durham, 
but are not so often killed in the more northern counties. “ They are most frequently found on the sandy 
shores of the sea, and generally in company with the Dunlin or the Sanderling, or both, as they fly in small 
and sometimes in large flocks together. They select for food aquatic insects, small Crustacea, worms, and 
mollusks.” 
According to Mr. Rodd it is occasionally seen in Cornwall, and specimens obtained from salt marshes 
near the sea, Marazion marsh and Hayle estuary. 
Neither Sir William Jardlne nor MacGlllivray met with the bird in Scotland; and although Thompson 
says it is a regular autumnal visitant to Ireland, it appears there in extremely limited numbers. More 
recently, however, it has been stated that a specimen was obtained at Fraserburgh in September 1854 ; 
and the Rev. F. O. Morris mentions that one was killed by Wlllian Strang, Esq., in Orkney in 1837, and 
another seen by him in 1848. 
Temminck says that in its passage it visits the borders of the rivers in Germany and France, and in 
autumn is to be found on the great marshes of Holland, but rarely on its maritime coasts, that it is 
very common on the lake of Geneva and occurs in great numbers on the salt marshes of Dalmatia in 
August and September in the garb of winter, and that those seen on their passage through France are 
in their perfect nuptial plumage. Nilsson states it is found in Sweden from spring to autumn ; but 
Mr. Dann informed Mr. Yarrell that it is by no means common there, and that the only specimens he met 
with were in autumn, in the flooded grounds on the banks of rivers and lakes, where, on being approached, 
they squat down and allow you to advance within a few feet of them. Mr. Selby mentions that he had 
received specimens in almost perfect plumage from Italy, where it has also been observed by Dr. Henry 
Giglloli in the neighbourhood of Pisa. 
Loche mentions it as a bird of passage in Algeria ; and the Zoological Society have received specimens 
