Little Stint.
Tringa minuta, Leisl. Nacht. zu Bechst. Naturg. Deutschl., tom. i. p. 74.
— cinclus, Pali. Zoog. Ross.-Asiat., tom. ii. p. 201.
pusilla, Wolf et Meyer, Taschenb. Deutschl. Vòg., tom. ii. p. 391.
Temminckii, Koch, Baier. Zool., tom. i. p. 292.
Pelidna minuta, Boie, Isis, 1826, p. 979. .
--------- pusilla, Brehm, Vòg. Deutschl., p. 666.
Actodromas minuta, Kaup, Natiirl. Syst., p. 55.
A l th o u g h this pretty species of Sandpiper has been very frequently killed in England and repeatedly in
Ireland, its presence can never be looked for with certain ty ; moreover it does not breed with u s ; 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
o f their breeding in any place being that, mentioned by Dr. David Walker in his “ Notes on the Voyage of
‘ T h eF o x ,’ ” who says, “ The winter of 1858-59 was spent at Port Kennedy, in the mouth of Bellot Straits,
72° 11' N., 94° Wv Early in Ju n e numbers o f Tringa 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 o f 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 o f the Little Stint with our avifauna, Mr. Yarrell says:— “ The species was
first mentioned by Pennant as a B ritish 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 rauge 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 th at the appearance of both old and young
birds in autumn in the vicinity o f the Solway has several times been recorded, that it has occurred in the
western part o f 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, hut most frequently in that o f autumn (when,
indeed, they are more common than a t any other period of the year), that a flock o f thirty was seen in
Romney Marsh, 1839, and that they are numerous on 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 o f 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 Jardine nor MacGillivray 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 a t Fraserburgh in September 1854;
and the Rev. F. O. Morris mentions that one was killed by Willian Strang, Esq., in Orkney in 1837, and
another seen by him in 1848.
Tetnminck 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 o f Geneva and occurs in great numbers on the salt marshes o f Dalmatia in
August and September in the garb of winter, and that those seen on th eir 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 th at the only specimens he met
with were in autumn, in the flooded grounds on the banks o f 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
Giglioli in the neighbourhood of Pisa.
Loche mentions it as a bird of passage in Algeria; and the Zoological Society have received specimens