The great difference in the summer and winter plumage of the dunlin caused it to be regarded formerly, by most persons, as two distinct species: in the chestnut-and-black plumage it was the dunlin; in white-and-grey, the purre. Other local names for this species are stint, ox-bird, and sea-snipe. Little Stint. Tringa minuta. Upper parts variegated with rufous and black; throat and upper breast tinged with rufous and speckled with dark brown; under parts white; bill and feet black. Length, six inches. In winter the upper parts are ashy brown, and there is no rufous on the throat. * * * * * This diminutive sandpiper, no larger than a house-sparrow, and in appearance a miniature dunlin, is the least of its order in the British Islands. It comes to us only during the autumn and spring migrations, but in small numbers, as the British coasts lie a little outside of its main lines of travel. It makes its appearance in August, chiefly on the east side of Great Britain, and is gone by October; in May it reappears, to stay till June, when it resumes its journey northwards. Its known breeding-places are in Northern Norway and Siberia, north of the arctic circle. The eggs are four in number, of the same length as those of the song-thrush, in colour and markings like dunlins’ eggs. The note of this species is described in Yarrell as a ‘whispering, warbling trill, very different from the louder call of the dunlin; ... and the call of a flock is something like the confused chirping of grasshoppers or crickets.’ * * * * * Temminck’s stint (_Tringa temmincki_) is a visitor on migration to the coasts of Great Britain, but is less regular, and appears in smaller numbers than the little stint, which it resembles in size and colour. Curlew-Sandpiper. Tringa subarquata. Head, neck, and mantle chestnut, streaked and barred with black and grey; upper tail-coverts white tinged with buff and barred with black; quills and tail-feathers ash-grey; under parts chestnut-red, slightly barred with brown and grey on the belly and flanks. Length, eight inches. In winter the upper parts are ash-brown, mottled with darker and paler brown; breast paler; under parts and upper tail-coverts white. * * * * *