124 PR.ECOCIAL GRALLATORES — LIMICOL^E. 



usually remains longer in one place than most Waders. When on the wing it is said 

 to utter a loud twittering note. It can be readily reconciled to confinement, and will 

 feed on a variety of food, (^uite different from that Avhich it seeks in a wild state. 

 Kev. Dr. Bachman once kept a bird of this species alive. It had recovered from a 

 slight wound, when he presented it to a lady who fed it on boiled rice and bread soaked 

 in milk, of both of which it was (juite fond. It became perfectly gentle, and fed 

 from the hand of its mistress, frequently bathed in a vessel kept at hand for that 

 pur]wse, and never attempted to escape, although left quite at lil^erty to do so. ]Mr. 

 Audubon, in the neighborhood of St. Augustine, Florida, saw this Turnstone feed- 

 ing on the oyster-beds, searching for such oysters as had been killed by the heat of 

 the sun, and picking out the contents ; it would also strike at such small bivalves 

 as had thin shells, and break them. While on the Florida coast, near Cape Sable, 

 he shot one, in the month of May, which had its stomach filled Avith the beautiful 

 shells, which on account of their resemblance to grains of rice are commonly called 

 rice-shells. 



IVIr. MacFarlane met Avitli a flock of about a dozen of these birds at Fort An- 

 derson, June, 1864, and obtained a single specimen. They were seen on the river 

 below the fort. He was informed by the Esquimaux that this species was tolerably 

 numerous on the Arctic coast as well as on the islands in Liverpool Bay. Except 

 on the large island in Franklin Bay, where several of this species were seen in July, 

 1864, Mr. MacFarlane's party noticed none of these birds, either on the "Barren 

 Grounds," or on any part of the coast visited by them. He afterward met with them 

 on the Lower Anderson, and found two nests, both precisely similar to those of the 

 other Waders, consisting of a few withered leaves placed in a depression in the 

 ground, each containing four eggs. 



Mr. H. W. Elliott states that this bird visits the Prybilof Islands, arriving in flocks 

 of thousands about the third week in July, and leaving September 1( », l:)ut not breeding 

 there. On its arrival it is quite poor ; but feeding on the larvae on the killing-grounds, 

 it rapidly fattens, and often bursts open as it falls to the ground after having been 

 shot. Mr. Elliott met with this bird at sea, eight hundred miles from the nearest 

 land, flying in a northwesterly direction towards the Aleutian Islands. 



The eggs of few species of Waders vary more than do those of the Turnstone. 

 They vary in shape from a rounded to an oblong ovoid, in length from 1.60 to 1.72 

 inches, and in breadth from 1.13 to 1.23 inches, averaging about 1.66 by 1.18. Their 

 ground-colors are a light olive-brown, a cream color, a light drab, and a deep clay- 

 color. The eggs are deeply and boldly marked, chiefly about the larger end, with 

 large splashes and blotches of light-brown, in some washed with a lilac shade, and in 

 others with a tinge of bronze. 



Strepsilas melanocephalus. 



BLACK TURNSTONE. 



Strepsilas melanocephalus, "Vigors, Zool. Joiirii. IV. Jan. 1829, 356 ; Zool. Blossom, 1830, 29. — 

 Baikd, B. N. Am. 1858, 702; Cat. IS"". Am. B. 1859, no. 516. — Ridgw. Norn. N. Am. B. 1881, 

 no. 510 (melanocephala). 



Strepsilas interpres, var. melanocephalus, CouES, Key, 1872, 247 : Check Ijist. 1873, no. 406a. 



Strepsilas interpres melanocephalus, Coues, Cheek List, 2d ed. 1882, no. 599. 



Hab. Pacific coast of North America, south to Monterey, California, north to the Aleutian 

 Islands; accidental in India. 



Sp. Char. Head, neck, breast, and upper parts in general, fuliginous dusky, with a faint 



