LEIMONITES TEMMINCKII. 
Temminck’s Stint. 
Tringa Temminckii, Leisl. Nacht. zu Bechst. Naturg. Deutschl., tom. i. p. 95. 
ptisilla. Lath. Ind. Om., tom. h. p. 737. 
Pelidna Temminckii, Boie, Isis, 1826, p. 979. 
Leimonites Temminckii, Kaup, Natiirl. Syst., p. 37. 
Actodromus Temmincki, Bonap. Tabl. des Echass. Compt. Rend, de I’Acad. des Sci. tom. xliii. sp. 219. 
My especial thanks are due to Mr. Alfred Newton, Mr. Wolley, and Mr. H. E. Dresser for the information 
they have afforded me respecting the bird here represented. Like the Little Stint (^Actodromas mlnutd), it 
visits the British Islands either singly or in small companies at various periods of tl)e year. To say that 
it is a regular migrant would he incorrect ; for whole seasons may pass without its being seen, while at 
others it appears in considerable numbers. 
It will be noticed that Temminck’s and the Little Stints have been figured under two different generic 
appellations ; and their separation is, I think, a very proper one, inasmuch as they not only differ in form 
but in the situations they each affect, — the former being mostly found on the banks of inland rivers, the 
sides of large reservoirs, and ponds ; while the latter is a more maritime bird, like the Sanderling and 
Purple Sandpiper. The Leimonites Temminckii is somewhat smaller than the Actodromas minuta, and 
more elegant in all its proportions ; the predominant colour of its upper surface is olive, while that of its 
ally is chestnut-red. 
The sumn)er home of the present bird is far better known than that of the Little Stint, the late 
Mr. Wolley, Mr. Newton, and Mr. Dresser having each found its nest in Norway and Lapland; the high 
fell-meadows of which countries are probably the northern limit of its breeding-localities. With the 
exception of America, Temminck’s Stint may be said to inhabit in summer all the countries bordering the 
Arctic circle, whence it proceeds, as autumn and winter approach, to the warmer parts of Europe, Africa, 
Asia Minor, India, and China. In all those countries, as in our own, it is never very plentiful, but occurs 
sufficiently often to be termed common in each of them. 
Numerous instances of the occurrence of this bird in England are on record, specimens having been 
obtained in Cornwall (w’here Mr. Rodd says it is occasionally found in the salt marshes near the sea) and here 
and there along the eastern coast as far north as Yorkshire ; occasionally it is met with as near to London 
as Kingsbury Reservoir, where F. Bond, Esq., has obtained old birds in spring and both old and young in 
autumn. In Scotland, according to Macgillivray, if has not occurred; but it must be found there. And 
Thompson says that it has only once been obtained in Ireland, where a single example was seen and shot at 
a freshwater pool close to the town of Tralee, during a severe frost, in January 1848; but, as in Scotland, 
it must visit the country more often than is supposed. During its spring and vernal migrations, it is seen in 
Germany, Holland, France, and Switzerland ; and we learn from M. Bailly that it “ visits Savoy every year, 
about the end of September or the first half of October, sometimes not until November or December, 
and never in very great numbers. Its early or late appearance in the spring seems to depend upon 
the nature of the season. It generally arrives in flocks, often united with Tringa mriabilis and T. minuta, 
and immediately resorts to the borders of rivers, lakes, ponds, and marshes, where it mingles with other 
allied species, and while running along the sand utters sharp cries. It rarely remains long, and often departs 
on the day of its arrival ; if it should appear at night, it is certain to be gone the next morning. It passes 
the winter in the temperate and warmer countries of Europe, which it leaves at the approach of spring, to 
breed, it is said, in the north.” 
Loche says it is a bird of passage in Algeria; Mr. E. C. Taylor that it is oecasionally killed in Upper 
Egypt, but is by no means numerous there; the Rev. H. B. Tristram found it extremely common in 
Northern Africa in winter; Dr. Adams plentiful about Alexandria and the Delta, but did not see it above 
Cairo ; Mr. C. A. Wright has shot it in Malta, both in the summer and winter plumage ; Mr. Jerdon remarks 
that it is not so numerous in India as the Little Stint ; but, on the other hand, Captain Irby mentions that it 
is very common in flocks, during the cold season, in Oudh and Kumaon ; Mr. Swinhoe, who met with it 
hetsveen Takoo and Pekin, in North China, says it remains in Foochow all the winter, on the banks of inland 
pools or fallow paddy-fields, solitary or in small parties, and often in eompany with A^gialites philippinus ; in 
Amoy it is found in small parties, scattered over wet paddy-fields in the cold season, and in Formosa is a 
common winter visitant to the inland waters and marshes ; Captain Blakiston mentions that two Avere shot 
in August in Northern Japan. 
