from Tangiers and Trebizond ; Mr. E. C. Taylor states that it occasionally occurs in small flocks in Egypt ; 
Dr. Andrew Smith obtained it in South Africa. At Natal, Mr. J. H. Gurney says, it “ may he found feeding 
at low water amongst the mud and weeds in the hay; it is gregarious and is, I think, only found here in 
winter; is occasionally seen in considerable flights on the mud flats and borders of pools in the 
Iransvaal. It is very shy and difficult of approach, and its flight is very rapid. This species has also 
been obtained by Mr. Andersson at Walvisch Bay;” according to Mr. C. A. MTight it is very common in 
Malta in the spring, part of the summer, and in autumn. Lord Lilford says it is rather common in the 
Ionian Islands “ in A])ril and May, particularly on the race-course of Corfu, an excellent locality for birds 
of many species at various seasons ;” and Lieut. Sperling that about Missolonghi, in Greece, it was rather 
rare in the early part of December. Specimens were obtained by the Rev. H. B. Tristram in Palestine. 
Mr. Jerdon informs us that “ the Little Stint is very abundant throughout India in winter, associating in 
large flocks, and feeding on marshy ground, rice-fields, and the edges of tanks and rivers. It is very 
excellent eating;” Captain Irby, that in Oudh and Kumaon it is “very common in flocks during the cold 
season.” Mr. Swinhoe enumerates it among the birds observed by him between Takoo and Peking in 
north China, in his list of the birds of Amoy, and, in his notes on the ornithology of Foochow, says it is 
seen on the coast in September, chiefly on its way to more southerly regions, to pass up again in March or 
the commencement of April. In those months it is often found by inland salt marshes with other species of 
the same and allied forms and the Great Snipe (Gallinago megala, Swinh.) ; and, lastly, Mr. H. Whitely 
states that he observed this bird in small flocks on the sea-shore at Hakodadi, in Japan, in the autumn, and 
shot two specimens near the end of September. 
Meyer says the Little Stint sleeps in the early part of the day, and if approached runs a short distance 
very quickly and then takes wing, its flight being rapid, but rather unsteady, and with arched wings. It is 
kept in confinement without difficulty. 
Its note is said by one writer to resemble the words deer-deer, and by another stint-stint, whence perhaps 
one of its trivial names. 
The above desultory notes comprise all I can find recorded respecting this Sandpiper, to which I have only 
to add that it is represented in America by a species which maiidy differs in being of a still smaller size, and 
in Australia by another which is distinguished from it by having a larger amount of red on the sides of the 
neck and throat and in having a smaller bill. 
In summer the head and neck are rusty red, speckled vvilb l)lack ; the feathers of the back, scapularies, 
wing-coverts, tertiaries, and upper tail-coverts brownish black, broadly margined with rufous and white ; 
])rimaries black, with white shafts; secondaries similar, but tipped with white; chin, breast, axillaries, and 
under surface of the body pure white ; sides of the neck and chest rufous, speckled with black ; irides dark 
brown ; bill black ; legs, toes, and claws brownish black. 
In the autumn all the colours are much paler, and there is a considerable mixture of grey and buffy white 
on the margins of the feathers of the upper parts of the body. 
In winter the grey tint becomes still more conspicuous, — the head and neck being ash-grey, with a darker 
line down each feather; the upper surface is very similar; the primaries and secondaries are in the same 
state as in autumn ; but the tertiaries become ashy brown vvitli lighter margins, and the tail ashy grey nar- 
rowly edged with white. 
The figures represent a male and a female, in the dress of summer; the bird in the distance the plumage 
of winter or a young bird, d'he maritime plant is the Sea-liolly {Erijngiuni maritimuni). 
