300 BULLETIN 14G, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



reflect but little luster. Due to the flatness of the nest, the eggs, while they 

 usually rest points together, do not stand as erect while being brooded as eggs 

 of the sandpipers. The texture of the surface is smooth and the eggs are 

 not at all fragile. The eggs of the present species are unique among the eggs 

 of the shore birds at Hooper Bay in that the ground color, the surface mark- 

 ings and the underlying spots are in the same category of colors which are 

 the olive hues, but each is a different shade. The olive of the ground color 

 is tinged with yellowish ; the surface markings are much darker, favoring 

 the browns, while the feeble underlying spots are of a shade between the two. 

 In consequence, the spots while fairly distinctive and seldom confluent, are not 

 prominent, the entire egg being of an olive-like cast. The common type of 

 ground color is " light yellowish olive " to " yellowish olive," but " huffy olive " 

 is not rare and some are even " Vetiver green." The small end is often several 

 shades lighter than the rest of the egg, but in a large series of specimens the 

 ground color is very similar. The surface markings are very constant in color, 

 ranging from " light yellowish olive " to " olive." These spots are angular and 

 fantastical and often inclined to be streaked or faintly smeared and are not 

 at all bold. They are numerous, often almost obliterating the ground color, 

 and are densest about the larger end. The underlying spots are very shadowy 

 and often almost invisible and are shades of " olive gray." On the large end of 

 every egg there are scattered additional markings of brownish black in the 

 form of small spots and pen-like streaks. In color and style of markings the 

 eggs of the black turnstone, when fresh, resemble a common olive type of the 

 American crow, but even these greenish colors fade considerably in time. 



The measurements of 130 eggs average 40.9 by 28.8 millimeters; 

 the eggs showing the four extremes measure 46 by 29.5, 41 by 30.5, 

 38 by 28, and 40.7 by 27.8 millimeters. 



Young. — Mr. Conover says, in his notes, that " both male and 

 female take care of the young." He obtained some data which seems 

 to show that the eggs hatch in from 21 to 22 days. A nest was found 

 on May 31 with four fresh eggs ; in the evening of June 21 this nest 

 contained three young, already dry, and one pipped egg; the next 

 morning the last egg had hatched. Another nest was found on 

 May 31 with three eggs ; the next day there were four eggs ; at noon 

 on June 22 the eggs had not hatched; but at 4 p. m. the next day 

 the nest was empty and the young had disappeared from the 

 vicinity. 



Mr. Brandt says in his notes: 



We enjoyed the pleasure of seeing the downy young for the first time on 

 June 21, and were greatly interested in them, as they had not been described 

 or figured. They are born from the egg 21 days after incubation begins, and 

 the mottled chick, like other shore birds, leaves its nest at once. The downy 

 young have a remarkably protective coloration, and, furthermore, are dis- 

 tinguishable from any of their relatives. 



Dr. E. W. Nelson (1887) says that— 



when the young are able to take wing in July they leave the flats, to a great 

 extent, and frequent the seacoast, where they keep in small straggling parties 

 searching for food along the tide line. 



