TUI^NSTONES. 347 



to the shores of Great Britain, and indeed of ahiiost every maritime country, 

 having been observed as far north as Greenland, and as far south as the Straits 

 of Magellan, but it is never seen inland. It is a bird of elegant form and 

 beautiful parti-coloured plumage, active in its habits, a nimble runner, and an 

 indefatigable hunter after food. In size it is almost as big as a thrush. It is 

 difficult to get near enough to these birds to observe their manoeuvres while 

 engaged in the occupations from which they have derived their name, thougli 

 their industry is often apparent from the number of pebbles and shells found 

 dislodged from their sockets in the sands in places where a Hock has been 



feeding; their English name, indeed, is derived from the circumstance that, 

 as they run along the beach, they are perpetually engaged in turning over the 

 stones that lie in their path in search of sand-hoppers, little crabs, or other 

 small animals that may be lurking beneath. The nest of the turnstone is 

 always built upon the shore, and both parents are said to defend their young 

 with considerable courage. A nest, found by Mr. Hewitson on the coast of 

 Norway, "was placed against a ledge of rosk, and consisted of nothing more 

 than the drooping leaves of the juniper bush, by which the eggs, four in 

 number, were snugly concealed and admirably sheltered from the many storms 

 by which these bleak and exposed rocks are visited, allowing just sufficient 

 room for the bird to cover them. The several nests that we examined were 

 all placed in the same situation as the one described, with the exception of 

 two, one of which was under a slanting stone, the other on the bare rock. All 

 the nests contained four eggs each. Their time of breeding is about the middle 

 of June. The eggs measure one inch seven lines in length, by one inch two 

 lines in breadth: they are of an olive-green colour, spotted and streaked with 

 ash-blue and two shades of reddish brown." 



