THE TURNSTONE. 397 



than is their wont, describes tlieir operations with his 

 usual felicity : " They were not more than fifteen or twenty 

 yards distant, and I was delighted to see the ingenuity 

 with which they turned over the oyster-shells, clods of 

 mud, and other small bodies left exposed by the retiring 

 tide. Whenever the object was not too large, the bird 

 bent its legs to half their length, placed its bill beneath it, 

 and with a sudden quick jerk of the head pushed it off, 

 when it quickly picked up the food which was thus ex- 

 posed to view, and walked deliberately to the next shell 

 to perform the same operation. In several instances, when 

 the clusters of oyster-shells or clods of mud were too heavy 

 to be removed in the ordinary way, they would not only 

 use the bill and head, but also the breast, pushing the 

 object with all their strength, and reminding me of the 

 labour which I have undergone in turning over a large 

 turtle. Among the sea-weeds that had been cast on shore, 

 they used only the bill, tossing the garbage from side to 

 side with a dexterity extremely pleasant to behold.* In 

 like manner I saw there four Turnstones examine almost 

 every part of the shore along a space of from thirty to 

 forty yards ; after which I drove them away, that our 

 hunters might not kill them on their return." 



A writer in the Zoologist f gives an equally interesting 

 account of the successful efforts of two Turnstones to turn 

 over the dead body of a cod-fish, nearly three and a half 

 feet long, which had been imbedded in the sand to about 

 the depth of two inches. 



For an account of the habits of the Turnstone during the 

 breeding season we are indebted to Mr. Hewitson, who fell 

 in with it on the coast of JSTorway. He says, " We had 

 visited numerous islands with little encouragement, and 

 were about to land upon a fiat rock, bare, except where 

 here and there grew tufts of grass or stunted juniper 



* From this habit, the Turnstone is in Norfolk called a '' Tangle- 

 picker."— C. A. J. t Vol. ix. p. 3077. 



