122 PRxECOCIAL GRALLATORES — LLMICOL^. 



Yarrell states that it frequents the British coast, either singly or in small flocks of 

 four or live in number, from August throughout the winter till May. Dr. Fleming 

 states that it is resident in Zetland, and found there at all seasons. Hewitson men- 

 tions its breeding on tlie coast of Norway. After visiting numerous islands, he was 

 about to land on a flat rock, bare except where, here and there, tufts of grass or 

 stunted juniper were growing, when his attention was attracted by the singular cry 

 of a Turnstone, which had perched itself upon an eminence of the rock, assuring him 

 by its querulous, oft-repeated note and anxious motions, that its nest was there. 

 After a minute search he succeeded in finding the latter placed against a ledge of the 

 rock, and consisting of nothing more than the dropping leaves of the juniper-bush, 

 under a creeping branch of which the eggs, four in number, were snugly concealed, 

 admirably sheltered, and allowing just sufficient room for the bird to cover them. He 

 afterward found several other nests, each containing four eggs. The time of breed- 

 ing was the middle of June. He describes their eggs as having an olive-green ground, 

 spotted and streaked with ashy blue, and two shades of reddish brown. They meas- 

 ured 1.59 by 1.17 inches. 



Professor Alfred Newton mentions that the Turnstone is said by Faber to occur 

 in Iceland, being more common in the south and west than in the north. It arrives 

 about the last week in April, and breeds in Iceland, as Mr. Proctor received its eggs 

 from the northern portion of that island. It usually leaves again in the autumn ; 

 but a few remain late in the season, as Faber obtained one Dec. 11, 1820. 



In America it occurs throughout the continent, Mr. Charles Darwin finding it, on 

 the voyage of the " Beagle," in the Straits of Magellan, and the various Arctic ex- 

 plorers meeting with it in North Greenland, on Winter Island, at Felix Harbor, and 

 on the coast near Fury Point and Victoria Harbor. Dr. AValker found it breeding 

 early in June in the marshy valleys in Bellot's Strait. Beinhardt includes it among 

 the birds of Greenland. Captain Blakiston met with it at York Factory, Hudson's 

 Bay, in August, and Mr. Boss mentions it as present, but as rare, on the Macken- 

 zie Biver. Bichardson speaks of it as common in the Fur Country, where it reaches 

 its breeding-quarters on the shores of Hudson's Bay and the Arctic Sea, as far north 

 as the 7oth parallel, in June, leaving them at the beginning of September. It is 

 common in Bermuda during the winter, and is of irregular occurrence in most, or all, 

 of the AVest India Islands. Professor NeAvton met with it in St. Croix in April, 1857, 

 and Mr. E. Newton saw it there, Sept. 8, 1858. Leotaud speaks of it as a migratory 

 visitant of Trinidad, where it never fails to arrive in August, departing in October. 

 It is said to l)e almost always found alone, flitting along the borders of the sea, some- 

 times silent, and at other times uttering a soft, peculiar cry, which is not easily 

 described. Certain kinds of shore seem to suit it best ; in these it stops to search 

 under the small stores, which it turns over with its bill for the worms, etc., on Avhich 

 it feeds. It is the " Plover " of Trinidad ; but its flesh is not held in high esteem. 

 It was taken by Xautus on the Bio Zacatula, in Mexico, and by others in Ecuador, 

 Guiana, the Argentine Bepublic, Peru, Chili, and in the West Indies. 



Mr. Salvin obtained specimens late in April among the islands on the coast of 

 Honduras, and mentions it as common in winter on both coasts of Guatemala. Mr. 

 Dresser noticed a number of these birds quite close to Galveston on the 26th of May, 

 1864 ; and afterward, on a second visit, found them as late as June. It is a regular 

 visitant to Massachusetts in its migrations, passing north usually in April, and 

 coming south in September or August. It was quite common on the shore of Lake 

 Koskonong, Wis., about Aug. 15, 1873. Only a single specimen is known to liave 

 been taken t)n the Pacific coast — by Dr. Cooper at the mouth of the Columbia. 



