424 CHARADRIID.E. 



eminence of the rock, assuring us, by its querulous, oft-re- 

 peated note, and anxious motions, that its nest was there. We 

 remained in the boat a short time, until we had watched it 

 behind a tuft of grass, near which, after a minute search, we 

 succeeded in finding the nest in a situation in which I should 

 never have expected to meet with a bird of this sort breed- 

 ing ; it was placed against a ledge of the rock, and consisted 

 of nothing more than the dropping leaves of the juniper bush, 

 under a creeping branch of which the eggs, four in number, 

 were snugly concealed, and admirably sheltered from the 

 many storms by which these bleak and exposed rocks are 

 visited, allowing just sufficient room for the bird to cover 

 them. We afterwards found several more nests with little 

 difficulty, although requiring a very close search. In sailing 

 amongst the many islands, with which this coast is every- 

 where studded, Ave had no difficulty in ascertaining those on 

 which we should prove successful, and were frequently led to 

 the spot, from a considerable distance, by the extreme anxiety 

 and pugnacity evinced by this bird in its bold attacks upon 

 the larger sea-fowl, especially Richardson''s Skua, Lestris 

 Richarchonii, the egg-devouring enemy of other sea-birds. 

 The several nests that we examined were placed in the same 

 situation as the one described, with the exception of two, one 

 of which was under a slanting stone, the other on the bare 

 rock ; all the nests contained four eggs each. Their time of 

 breeding is about the middle of June. The eggs measure 

 one inch seven lines in length, by one inch two lines in 

 breadth, of an olive green colour, spotted and streaked with 

 ash blue and two shades of reddish brown." 



The Turnstone inhabits the shores and islands of the Bal- 

 tic, and was also one of the birds found by M. Von Baer at 

 Nova Zembla. During the various northern expeditions from 

 this country, these birds were seen at Greenland, on Winter 

 Island, at Felix Harbour, and alon^ the coast between Vic- 



