180 TRANSACTIONS, NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 



XV. 



NOTES ON THE TURNSTONE, STREPSILAS 



INTERPRES, LIN. 



BY WILLIAM CRAIBE ANGUS. 



[Read 28th December, 1886.] 



The example of this bird now exhibited is apparently 

 the first to have been reported from the Loch 

 Lomond district, where it was shot on 6th inst. It 

 is an adult male in winter plumage, and was one of 

 three birds killed at a single shot, the other two 

 being immature. Its stomach contained portions of 

 marine shells, identified by Mr. A. Somerville, B.Sc, 

 F.L.S., as those of Lacuna divaricata (Fab.) and 

 Rissoa parva (Da Costa) ; also an operculum of a 

 species of Trochus — probably T. cinerarias, Lin. — 

 and unrecognisable shell fragments. 



Although not a very common species, the Turnstone 

 is generally distributed along the East and West 

 Coasts, and seems to be of more frequent occurrence 

 in Scotland and Ireland than in the sister country. 

 I have met with families at the Loch of Strathbeg, 

 in Aberdeenshire ; and in Buteshire I have seen it 

 in far larger numbers feeding upon shells and tangle 

 exposed at low water on the margins of the salt- 

 water lochs. 



The Turnstone, which may be called the Starling 

 of the shore, is one of the strongest of our smaller 

 wading-birds. It seems to be less shy, and to be 

 fonder of special spots and less inclined to wander 

 about, than the Sandpipers and other birds frequent- 

 ing the same localities. 



When feeding it is generally silent, but when 

 a-wing it utters a loud note to which the neighbour- 

 rag birds respond in what at times virtually 

 becomes a Babylonic chorus, which is continued till 



