86 BIRDS OF ICELAND 



thinks that its appearances of late years have increased 

 in frequency. It has never been reported as breeding 

 in Iceland. 



It seems unnecessary to describe so familiar a bird 

 to Englishmen, but it may be well just to state that 

 its brown back with green gloss ; conspicuous black 

 occipital crest, and bar across the chest (extending 

 over the throat and neck in summer dress); white 

 underparts; rounded dark wings and flapping flight, 

 ought to distinguish it sufficiently. Length about 12 

 inches, wing 9 inches. 



Strepsilas interpres (Linn.). Turnstone. 



Native name : "' Tildra.' 



A spring and autumn migrant in some numbers, a 

 small proportion of the visitors remaining to breed. 

 But it is decidedly of uncommon occurrence as a 

 breeding bird, and nests on the fells, as in Novaia 

 Zemlya, and not on the coast near high-water mark, 

 as is sometimes the case in Norway. Faber considered 

 it to be a commoner bird in the south and west than 

 in the north, and so it may be as a migrant ; but as a 

 breeding bird I believe the reverse to be the case, and 

 my eggs are all from the north. I have no idea what 

 Herra Grondal meant by describing this (Verzeichn. 

 360) as 'probably a resident species'; and Howard 

 Saunders adopts this, defining the bird in Iceland as 

 ' sedentary.' If there is a migrating species it is the 

 Turnstone, breeding in Greenland and wintering in 



