Species VIII. TRINGA INTERPRES* 



TURN-STONE. 



[Plate LVII. Fig.l.] 



Hebridal Sandpiper, Arct. Zool. p. 472, No. 382. — Le Tournepierre, Buff, vii., 130. 

 PI. Enl. 130.— Bewick, ii., p. 119, 121.— Catesby, i., 72. 



This beautifully variegated species is common to both Europe and 

 America ; consequently extends its migrations far to the north. It 

 arrives from the south, on the shores of New Jersey, in April ; leaves 

 them early in Juno ; is seen on its return to the south in October ; and 

 continues to be occasionally seen until the commencement of the cold 

 weather, when it disappears for the season. It is rather a scarce species 

 in this part of the world, f and of a solitary disposition ; seldom min- 

 gling among the large flocks of other Sandpipers ; but either coursing 

 the sands alone, or in company with two or three of its own species. On 

 the coast of Cape May and Egg Harbor, this bird is well known by the 

 name of the Horse-foot Snipe, from its living, during the months of May 

 and June, almost wholly on the eggs or spawn of the great King Crab, 

 called here, by the common people, the Horse-foot. This animal is the 

 Monoculus iJolyphemus of entomologists. Its usual size is from twelve 

 to fifteen inches in breadth, by two feet in length ; though sometimes it 

 is found much larger. The head, or forepart, is semicircular, and con- 

 vex above, covered with a thin elastic shelly case. The lower side is 

 concave, where it is furnished with feet and claws resembling those of a 

 crab. The posterior extremity consists of a long, hard, pointed, dagger- 

 like tail, by means of which, when overset by the waves, the animal turns 

 itself on its belly again. The male may be distinguished from the female 

 by his two large claws having only a single hook each, instead of the 

 forceps of the female. In the Bay of Delaware, below Egg Island, and 

 in what is usually called Maurice River Cove, these creatures seem to 

 have formed one of their principal settlements. The bottom of this cove 

 is generally a soft mud, extremely well suited to their accommodation. 



* This bird belongs to the gemis Strepsilas of Illiger ; it is the only species of the 

 genus known ; and is found in almost every quarter of the world. 



t This species is now found in great abundance on the coast of New Jersey ; and 

 becomes excessively fat, in the month of May. 



(352) 



