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LEIMONITES TEMMINCKIL
Temminck’s Stint.

Tringa Temminckii, Leisl. Nacht. zu Bechst. Naturg.
pusilla, Lath. Ind. Orn., tom. ii. aeiode
Pelidna Temminckii, Boie, Isis, 1826, p. 979.
Leimonites Temminckii, Kaup, Natiirl. Syst., p. 37.
Actodromus Temmincki, Bonap. Tabl. des Echass.

 

Deutschl., tom. i. p. 95.

, Compt. Rend. de Acad. des Sci. tom. xliii. sp. 219.
poe eee
My especial thanks are due to Mr. Alfred Newton, Mr.

they have afforded me respecting the bird here represen
visits the British Islands either singly or

Wolley, and Mr. H. E. Dresser for the information
ted. Like the Little Stint (Aetodromas minuta), it
in small companies at yarious periods of the year. To say that

it is a regular migrant would be incorrect; for whole seasons may pass without its bein

others it appears in considerable numbers.

It will be noticed that Temminck’s and the Little Stints hav
appellations ; and their separation is, I think, a v
but in the situations they each affect,—the for

x seen, while at

e been figured under two different generic
ery proper one, inasmuch as they not only differ in form
mer 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 th
more elegant in all its proportions ; the predominant colour of its upper s
ally is chestnut-red.

an the Actodromas minuta, and
urface is olive, while that of its

The summer 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 (where 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, it 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 oe to depend upon
the nature of the season. It generally arrives in flocks, often united with Zringa earighilis and f. 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, ue often departs
on the day of its arrival ; if it should appear at might, it is centamy to ise 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.” ee :

Loche says it is a bird of passage in Algeria; Mr. E. C. Taylor that it is occasionally oo in Upper
Egypt, but is by no means numerous there; the Rev. H. ee found it extremely common in
Northern Africa in winter; Dr. Adams plentiful about Alexandria and the Delta, but aig not it above
Cairo; Mr. C. A. Wright has shot it in Malta, both in the summer and winter UES Mr. Jet on ss
that it is not so numerous in India as the Little Stint; but, on the other hand, Captain Irby mentions aa it
is very common in flocks, during the cold season, in Oudh and Kumaon ; Mr. eee a oe va :
between Takoo and Pekin, in North China, says it remains in Foochow all the winter, on ee anksjof infanc

Re eat i ll parties, and often in company with Agialites philippinus ; in
pools or fallow paddy-fields, solitary or in small } ‘ fields in the cold season, and in Formosa is a
Ampy it is found in small parties, scattered over wet Dea Cs : oe oe : oe
: : - Captain Blakiston mentions that two were shot
common winter visitant to the inland waters and marshes; Captain
in August in Northern Japan.