COLLARED TURNSTONE. 145 



Variations. — In adult individuals the only variations 

 that I have observed consisted of a greater or less intenseness 

 of tint. 



Changes of Plumage. — The moult commences in Sep- 

 tember and is completed by the end of November, when the 

 colours are as described above. A partial moult takes place 

 in the beginning of summer, so that during the breeding 

 season the birds present the following appearance : — 



Male in Summer. — The forehead, loral space, throat, 

 and a patch on the nape, white, as are all the parts described 

 as such above. A narrow band across the forehead, passing 

 under the eye, another from the base of the lower mandible, 

 and the fore part and sides of the neck, glossy black ; the 

 top of the head reddish-white streaked with black ; the fore 

 part of the back, the scapulars, and many of the Aving-coverts 

 light chestnut with spots of black, the central part of each 

 feather being of the latter colour. 



Female in Summer. — The female is similar to the male, 

 but has the colours less deep, and the white on the neck less 

 pure. 



The descriptions of the male and female in winter 

 plumage are taken from two individuals shot by myself in 

 the island of Harris, on the 4th December 1817; and those 

 of the birds in summer, from foreign specimens, and an in- 

 dividual shot in Fifeshire in the autumn of 1836. 



Habits. — The Turnstones appear on our coasts in the 

 end of October, and remain until the beginning of May. The 

 latest period at which I have seen them was the 14th of May, 

 on which day (1831) I shot one out of a large flock near 

 Prestonpans on the Firth of Forth. In the outer Hebrides, 

 they frequent the rocky shores in flocks varying from half-a- 

 dozen to twenty individuals, and are not generally shy, but 

 may be easily approached when feeding. Although they eat 

 coleopterous insects, their food consists chiefly of small shell- 

 fish, Crustacea, and marine worms, which they search for 



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