216 NEW-YORK FAUNA — BIRDS. 



THE TURNSTONE. 



Strepsilas interpres. 

 plate lxxx. fig. 182. 



(STATE COLLECTION.) 



Triiiga interpres, Lin. p. 248. Ilebridal Sandpiper. Pennant, Arct. Zoology, Vol. 2, p. 17:;. 

 Strepsilas id. Illigee, Prodromus Syst. 

 S. collaris. Temjiinck, Man. Vol. 2, p. 553. 



Trin ga interpres. Wilson, American Ornithology, Vol. 7, p. 32, pi. 57, fig. 1 (adult). 

 Strepsilas id. Bonaparte, Ann. Lye. Nat. Hist. Vol. 2, p. 229. 

 Sea Dotterel. Nuttall, Man. Orn. Vol. 2, p. 30. 



Turnstone. Richaedson, F. B. A. Vol. 2, p. 371. Audubon, Birds of Am. Vol. 5, p. 231, pi. 323. Gikaud, 

 Birds of Long island, p. 220. 



Characteristics. Upper parts varied with white, black and ferruginous. Throat, abdomen 

 and rump white. Bill and breast black. Young, varied with grey 

 and faint rufous ; breast varied with grey and dusky. Length, 9*5. 



Description. Bill compressed above near the base, turgid in the middle, blunt at the tips. 

 Wings reaching to or beyond the tail, which is short and rounded : inner secondaries much 

 elongated. Through inadvertence on the part of the engraver, the hind toe has been omitted. 



Color. Bill black. Feet orange red. Crown white, streaked with black. A broad band 

 of white crosses the forehead, passes over the eyes and down the sides of the neck ; the 

 black on the breast rises up on the sides of the neck, and nearly surrounds it. Back, wing- 

 coverts and tertiaries chesnut-brown, blotched with black. Tail white, with a broad blackish 

 brown bar towards the end, and tipped with white. Young, mottled above with brown and 

 whitish, and slightly tinged with rufous on the wing-coverts. Chin yellowish ; throat and 

 upper part of the breast brown, obscurely barred with whitish : base of the bill light yellow. 

 Winter, plumage as in the figure ; edges of the scapulars, and of some of the wing-coverts 

 white. Tail with a comparatively narrower band of black. 



Length, 9-0-10-0. 



This bird, which is generally distributed over Europe and America, arrives in this State 

 from the south at the commencement of April, and proceeds northwardly the last of May. It 

 is known among our gunners (a class of men who earn a livelihood by shooting birds) under 

 the names of Brant-bird, Heart-bird, Horsefoot Snipe, and Beach-bird. The young are 

 often designated as Beach-birds. They live on marine animals, turning over stones and 

 seaweed during their search. It is very fond of the eggs of the Limulus polyphemus, or 

 Horsefoot. Eggs pale greenish, with patches and streaks of red. It returns to our State in 

 September, and remains until late in the autumn. It does not appear to go far inland, but is 

 confined to the Atlantic coast. A few winter in the Southern States. It ranges from the 

 tropics to the Arctic ocean, and breeds from Maine northwardly. 



