TURNSTONE. 5 



Had any historian of British birds described the nesting-habits of this 

 species, we should probably have found a good many eggs, but the very meagre 

 information given rather hindered than helped us. Directly we found a bird we 

 noticed that, if high ground was near, it immediately flew to it, uttering its 

 alarm-note, and presently it was joined by the female ; both birds would perch on 

 boulders of rock. We spent hours in trying to watch them back to their nest, 

 but they would not move from their stations whilst we were in the neighbourhood. 

 We also spent many hours searching under stones near the places where we saw 

 the females, but without success. The last evening but one before we left the 

 Porsanger, whilst walking by the shore, we found a nest placed in the centre of 

 a patch of dwarf sallow not 6 paces from high-water mark. A second was 

 found in a similar position, and a third under a flat stone just 12 paces above 

 high-water mark." 



Mr. H. Chichester Hart, Naturalist on board H.M.S. ' Discovery,' in his 

 " Notes on the ornithology of the British Polar Expedition, 1875-6," -writes * : — 

 " On the 25th August, 1875, Turnstones, young and old, were collected in small 

 flocks preparatory to leaving Discovery Bay. They were then feeding along the 

 shore, all their means of subsistence inland being frozen up. In 1876 two or 

 three Turnstones arrived on the 29th May; on the 5th June I shot a male in 

 beautiful summer plumage ; by the 6th and 7th they were of frequent occurrence, 

 and I saw a few passing to the north in small flocks. The Turnstone, like all 

 other birds in Discovery Bay, is always at war with the Long-tailed Skua, flying 

 at and insulting him with great courage. Turnstones, though feeding along 

 shore at the close of their visit, subsist during the summer upon bees, caterpillars 

 {Argijnnis chariclen, Sch., and Dasychira groenlandica, Wocke), and Tipulse. The 

 stomachs of several examined were almost entirely filled with caterpillars, and 

 I often watched them with a powerful glass and wondered at their dexterity in 

 finding them. The summer note of the Turnstone is loud and pleasant : a 

 twittering chatter of two notes quickly repeated, which is produced by the male 

 bird while watching near the nest. On the 12th and 24th July, 1876, two nests 

 were found with four eggs each ; on the 1st August I saw a brood of four young, 

 just able to fly ; on the 6th there were many young about, and by the 9th they 

 were feeding in small parties along the shore. The first nest was found by one 

 of the sailors in a valley about three miles inland ; by my instructions he left it 

 imtouched for me to see in situ ; but, having taken insufiicient bearings, when we 

 returned together, he could not re-discover it. The ground was covered Avith a 



* ' Zoologist,' 1880, pp. 128, 129. 



