Allen’s naturalist’s library. 
256 
shaft streaks and spots ; bill and feet black ; iris dark brown. 
Total length, 5 inches; culmen, o-8 ; wings, 3-55; tail, i-6; 
tarsus, o'75 ; middle toe and claw, 075. 
Adult Male in Summer Plumage — Similar to L. 7ninuta, but much 
smaller, and blacker on the upper surface, where the rufous is 
never so strongly characterised as in L. minuia ; sides of face 
dusky-brown wdth scarcely any tinge of rufous; lower throat and 
chest ashy, with strongly-marked streaks and spots of blackish- 
brown, with scarcely any tinge of rufous; bill black; feet 
dark olive-brown; iris dark brown. Total length, 5 '2 inches; 
Culmen, o'S ; wing, 3'4 ; tail, I's; tarsus, 075; middle toe 
and claw, o'8. 
Adult Female in Breeding Plumage — Similar to the male; “bill 
blackish-brown ; feet light clay-brown ; iris dark brown.” Total 
length, 5-3 inches; culmen, 0-9; wing, 3-35; tail, 1-4; tarsus, 
07 - 
young — Resembles the summer plumage of the adult, being 
black with rufous margins to the feathers, but is distinguished 
by the white margins to the feathers of the upper surface, and 
by the absence of spots on the lower throat and fore-neck, 
which are tinged with buff. 
Charactera. — The American Little Stint is a smaller bird than 
Z. minuta, and the measurements will serve to distinguish it 
in all stages. In colour of plumage, and in its changes, it is, at 
all times, similar to the last-named bird, but has a very much 
more slender bill. 
Range in Great Britain. — The present species is only an acci- 
dental visitor to our south-eastern coasts, where it has occurred 
on three occasions — once in Mount’s Bay in Cornwall and 
twice in North DevonshTe. 
Range outside the British Islands. — Z. Jiiinuiilla breeds in the 
high north of the New World, and migrates south in winter, 
when it extends its range over the greater part of the South 
American continent. 
Hahits. — These, as might be expected, are very similar to 
those of Z. minuta and the other small Stints, and call for no 
special description. 
