BLACK TUHNSTONE 301 



Plumages. — I have never seen a young black turnstone in natal 

 down, but Mr. Conover describes it y&vj well, as follows : 



Above mottled black and " cream buff," the black strongly predominating. 

 Line from base of bill extending over and to the center of the eye " cream buff." 

 Distinct loral streak of black from base of bill to eye. (Some specimens also 

 have below this loral stripe a black spot at base of lower mandible). Lower 

 breast, abdomen and a very small area on chin clear white. Upper throat 

 " cream buff." Neck and upper breast mixed black and " cream buff," but 

 without distinct mottling. Bill dark horn, iris brown, legs and feet light horn 

 with fleshy tint. Compared with absolutely identified newly hatched chicks 

 of A. i. morlnella, downy young of this species have a much darker appearance. 

 On the upper parts the huffy colors are more in the form of specklings, while in 

 morinella these colors are more blotch-like. Melanocephala also has a very 

 distinct dark band across the chest, while in the other species this band is 

 very faintly indicated. 



In fresh juvenal plumage, in July, the head, neck, chest, back, 

 scapulars and wing coverts are dull, blackish brown, or " sepia," with 

 an olive gloss; the feathers of the mantle are narrowly edged with 

 " pinkish buff " ; the scapulars are more broadly edged with the 

 same; the median wing coverts are tipped and their white edges are 

 tinged with the same ; and the tail feathers are tipped or tinged with 

 the same color. These buffy edgings have mostly worn away or 

 faded out to dull white before the birds migrate. Probably a partial 

 postjuvenal molt in the fall produces a first winter plumage, which 

 is like the adult, except that some of the juvenal wing coverts and a 

 few scapulars are retained. A first nuptial plumage appears in a 

 young bird, collected on March 17, which is beginning to acquire the 

 white spots of the nuptial plumage on the head and breast, but still 

 has some old, worn, juvenal scapulars and wing coverts. The young 

 bird evidently acquires the adult winter plumage at the first post- 

 nuptial molt the following summer. 



Adults have a partial prenuptial molt of the body plumage in 

 March and April and a complete postnuptial molt in August and 

 September. The adult nuptial plumage is characterized by the white 

 lores, the small white spots on the forehead, and the larger white 

 spots on the sides of the head, neck and chest; otherwise it is like 

 the winter plumage, though the latter is somewhat lighter brown 

 on the throat and chest. 



Food. — The food of the black turnstone has evidently not been 

 carefully analyzed, but it apparently consists of small marine animals 

 such as barnacles, slugs, small mollusks, and crustaceans, such as are 

 eaten by surf birds and other turnstones. Grinnell, Bryant, and 

 Storer (1918) mentioned one, taken in Alaska in May, that had been 

 feeding on heath berries. They quote Bradford Torrey (1913), as 

 to the method of feeding, as follows : 



They were feeding in three ways. Sometimes they followed the receding 

 breaker, gleaning from the surface, as it seemed, such edibles as it had washed 



