4 CHAEADE11D.E. 



cautiously next evening, and perhaps see the bird leave the nest. However, 

 early in the morning a man came with the very two eggs to claim the reward 

 I had offered, and although he seemed much aggrieved by the charge, I am quite 

 sure the rascal had been watching me. Two of the eggs were a good deal like 

 the figure in Mr. Hewitson's work, but the ground-colour of the third was of a 

 brighter green ; all were blotched with amber brown, reddish brown, and purplish 

 grey, the markings of the latter colour being smallest. The average length was 

 one inch and six lines, the breadth one inch two lines. 



" I have no doubt that if some of the smaller islands were carefully and 

 patiently explored, other nests would be found. Shetlanders as a rule care little 

 for such minute work. They have no objections to visit a colony of Terns or 

 Gulls, and bring home a good-sized handkerchieful of eggs ; but to potter about 

 for hoiurs after ' twa-three peerie bits o' tings ' like Turnstone's eggs, is more than 

 they have patience to attempt." 



Messrs. F. and P. Godman met with this species at Bodo, Norway, in 1857. 

 They write * : — " On June 3rd, whilst rowing amongst some islands, we first noticed 

 this bird. We afterwards found five nests, being in every instance attracted to 

 the islands on which they were situated by the cries and motions of the old birds, 

 which they began long before we neared the place. All the nests were cunningly 

 placed, showing no preference for any particular locality. One was on a ledge of 

 a rock ; another on the open sand, close to an Oyster-catcher's ; two were in the 

 grass ; and the fifth under a ledge of rock, well concealed by weeds and grass." 



With reference to the Turnstone, Prof. Collett writes f: — "The last few 

 years I have examined a considerable number of the nests of this species, in 

 particular on the coast of Namdalen, in June 1871. They are mostly built 

 under large stones or beneath broad-leaved plants {Archangelica littoralis), or 

 juniper bushes. Several pairs were generally found breeding close to one another. 

 The eggs — ^invariably 4 to the set — were quite fresh in the middle of June. 

 In the breeding-haunts the birds exhibited great alarm, but did not, like the 

 Charadrii, feign to be wounded. Incubation-spots are found in both sexes. 

 The stomachs contained small Coleoptera, the young of a Litorina, small 

 crustaceans, coarse gravel, and scales of fishes (swallowed perhaps accidentally)." 



Messrs. H. J. Pearson and E. Bidwell, in their notes " On a Birds'-nesting 

 Excursion to the North of Norway in 1893," write as follows, with reference to 

 this species % : — " In good numbers on some of the islands in the Porsanger. 



* " Notes on the Birds observed at Bodii during the spring and summer of 1S57," ' Ibis,' 1861, p. 86. 

 t ' Remarks on the Ornithology of Northern Norway,' p. 70. 

 t ' Ibis,' 1894, p. 234. 



