280 BULLETIN 146, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



as common as are most of the other species of shore birds that migrate along 

 the coast. 



From its winter home in Australia the turnstone makes an early 

 start for its long flight over the ocean ; W. B. Alexander tells me that 

 his latest record is of a pair seen April 25, 1914, on the estuary of the 

 Lost River on the south coast of western Australia. The Pacific form 

 of the turnstone has been named oahuensis from a specimen taken on 

 the island where Honolulu is situated. The birds leave the Hawaiian 

 Islands in May and j)robably make a 2,000- mile flight over the Pacific 

 Ocean to the Commander and Aleutian Islands. Dr. Leonhard Stej- 

 neger (1885) says that they make their appearance in the Commanders 

 " early in May (in 1883 the first ones were observed on the 7th), and 

 the beach, especially on the north shore of Bering Island, fairly 

 swarms with them. In June they disappear, and only a few remain • 

 during the summer." In his notes from Hooper Bay, Alaska, H. B. 

 Conover says : " On May 15 Du Fresne shot the first bird of this 

 species. He had found it sitting humped up on a log showing through 

 the snow. The next day a pair was seen, and after that date they 

 were noticed constantly. On May 28 the migration still must have 

 been going on, as a flock of about 20 was seen mixed with 6 golden 

 plover." 



Cov/rtship. — ^Doctor Ekblaw has sent me the following notes : 



The ruddy turnstone is almost if not quite as common as the ringed plover 

 along the beaches and about the gravelly moraines and terraces of northwest 

 Greenland. It comes to the land the first week in June, frequenting the drifts 

 of kelp along the shore when the ice foot has melted away. There they probe 

 about the shells and seaweed, turning the long drifts over to a depth of 

 3 inches. Where they have worked, the shore looks as if a drove of tiny pigs 

 had rooted about. 



They begin mating as soon as they arrive, and many a bitter struggle and 

 amorous courtship takes place among these birds during the first two weeks of 

 June. The males outnumber the females, so the rivalry is keen. As the lower- 

 ing sun of the day sinks nearest the midnight horizon the wooing antics are at the 

 height. Frequently two males pursue the same female, seeking to win her favor, 

 the while they are combating one another for the advantage. In giddy, reckless 

 flight they sweep back and forth along the shore, rarely rising more than 3 feet 

 above the beach, usually but a foot. When alighted the pursuit is just as eager, 

 the female racing about to escape the insistent attentions of the males, the 

 males eagerly pursuing her and struggling between themselves for supremacy. 

 The more pugnacious usually wins out, though the other never gives up hope. 



The Rev. F. C. R. Jourdain contributes the following notes on the 

 subject: 



A study of the published records of the breeding habits of the turnstone 

 discloses the fact that practically nothing has ever been written on the court- 

 ship and song of this species. The only apparent exception is a passage by 

 A. Trevor-Battye (1895), who says: "This lovely bird has a far more elaborate 

 song than that of any wader I know. You really may call it a song. I put 



