174 HANDBOOK OF BRITISH BIRDS 



Northumberland, who used to visit the Fame 

 Islands annually in the nesting-season, wrote to 

 me in 1865 as follows: — "The Turnstone breeds 

 on the Fame Islands, formerly plentifully, now 

 very few." When visiting these islands myself 

 in 1863, I purchased from a fisherman at North 

 Sunderland various eggs which had been taken 

 on the island the previous year ; and among them 

 was one which, in the opinion of experienced 

 oologists, could only have belonged to a Turn- 

 stone. On the 18th of May I shot two of these 

 birds in full summer plumage on the mainland- 

 opposite the F'arne Islands. They were figured 

 by Gould in his "Birds of Great Britain," part x., 

 and are now preserved in the Natural History 

 Museum in South Kensington. Robert Gray writes : 

 ** It was suggested by the late Dr. Fleming that this 

 species might breed in Shetland, as he had observed 

 it there at all seasons of the year ; and I find it 

 mentioned, in a MS. note by one of the authors 

 of the ' Fauna Orcadensis,' that it breeds in the 

 Orkney Islands." Saxby found a nest of the 

 Turnstone containing three eggs in Unst ("Birds 

 of Shetland," p. 171). 



Wm. Thompson was " disposed to believe that 

 the Turnstone may breed in Ireland, though no 

 proof can be offered." Small flocks and pairs have 

 been observed in June on the Connemara rocks, 

 the Arran Isles, and the Keeraghs, off Wexford. 



