Mr. W. C. Tait on the Birds af Portugal. 387 



many months in a cage. It ate boiled rice, small pieces of 

 biscuit, and cooked meat, was very tame and became quite 

 familiar and affectionate, giving a short whistle of jjleasure 

 when it saw me and coming to feed from my hand. I took 

 it with me to England to deposit it in that paradise for birds, 

 the Zoological Gardens. One morning while the steamer was 

 going up the channel between England and Ireland, the cage 

 being on deck, a Whimbrel flew over the vessel. My Turn- 

 stone called, whereupon the Whimbrel responded, alighting 

 on the deck close to the cage, when the sailors caught the 

 latter without any difficulty and put it into the same cage 

 with the Turnstone. They struck up a friendship at once, and 

 the most extraordinary thing was that the Whimbrel at once 

 became as tame as the Turnstone, taking biscuit from my 

 hand without fear. It was curious to see the delight of the 

 Turnstone at obtaining a companion. These are evidently 

 very sociable birds. Wishing to observe the Turnstone's 

 instinct for turning over stones, I put one into its cage, when 

 it immediately began to turn it over and over, as if it ex- 

 pected to find something underneath. I left the two friends 

 comfortably housed in a large aviary in the Zoological 

 Society's Gardens, London. 



I have seen this species in all the summer months. At 

 Faro I was told that it breeds in the rushes (?) along the coast 

 of the Algarve. During the months of August and Sep- 

 tember there is a large migration of these birds from north 

 to south, and numbers arrive on passage at the mouth of the 

 Ilouro. They travel by night, and during foggy weather may 

 be heard constantly calling to each other. 



222. H^MATOPus osTKALEGUS. Linn. '' Passa rios," 

 Oporto. 



The Oyster-catcher is generally seen on passage during the 

 months of August, September, and October, and some few 

 remain through the winter. The rocks north of Leca de Pal- 

 meira and the Leixoes rocks are a favourite locality for 

 them, a few being seen every autumn at the mouth of the 

 Douro. 



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