



TURNSTONE. 



CHICKEN PLOVER. BRANT BIRD. RED-LEGGED PLOVER. 



Arenaria interpres. 



Char. Head, neck, breast, and shoulders variegated black and white; 

 back streaked chestnut and black ; wings with band of white ; rump 

 white ; tail-coverts and most of tail-feathers dark brown ; beneath, white. 

 Legs and feet orange red ; hind toe turning inward. Bill black, stout, 

 and acute. Length 9 inches. 



Nest. Under shelter of bushes or among herbage near the sea-shore; 

 a slight depression, lined with a few leaves and blades of grass or weed- 

 stems. 



Eggs. 2-4 (usually 4) ; greenish gray, spotted and streaked with 

 brown and bluish ash; 160 X iio. 



These singular marine birds are not only common to the 

 whole northern hemisphere, but extend their colonies even to 

 Senegal and the Cape of Good Hope, in the southern half of 

 the globe. Their favorite breeding-resorts are, however, con- 

 fined to the inclement regions of the North, to which they are 

 in no haste to return, but linger along the coast in the tem- 

 perate climates for several months before they attain to the 

 remote and desolate shores of their nativity. Their southern 



