206 



THE ANIMALS OF NEW ZEALAND 



The Turnstone. 

 Arenaria interpres. 



Winter plumage — Above blackish brown; throat, abdomen, and 

 over the tail white, breast brownish black; tail white, with a broad 

 band near tip. Bill black, legs red, shafts of the quills white; eye 

 blackish brown. In the summer the head and lower surface are white, 

 the liead and breast mottled with black. Length of the wing, 6 in.; 

 of the tarsus, 1 in. Migratory. 



Breeding phimage of Turnstone. 



(Meyer) 



The turnstone breeds in the Northern Hemisphere, bnt not 

 so far north as the godwit, and it is found in its breeding-dress 

 in India and Ceylon. In early antunni it leaves its more northern 

 breeding-grounds, and some pass through the jNIalay Archipelago 

 and New Guinea to Australia and Tasmania. In New Zealand 

 it arrives in November, and leaves in March or April, almost all 

 the birds being in winter plumage. A few remain, however, and 

 take on their summer plumage, although they have never been 

 knowu to breed here. Stragglers occasionally spread from Fiji 

 through eastern Polynesia, but there is no regular migration 

 eastward of Fiji. 



