AUSTRALIAN LIMICOL^. 957 



abundant in Ralph's Bay in October, and Messrs. Atkinson 

 and Holden record it as common in the north-west from 

 September till March, frequenting also the Straits Islands in 

 numbers at the same period. This Stint has not been 

 observed in New Zealand, and it has no Polynesian range. 



16. Strepsilas interpres. 



(Turnstone). 



Tringa interpres^ Linn., Sys. Nat., i., p. 248, (1766). 



Strepsilas interpi'es (Linn.), Gould, Handb. B. of Aiistr., ii., p. 269, 



(1865) ; Legse, Birds of Ceylon, p. 900, (1880-2) ; Ramsay, List 



Austr. B., p. "20, (1888). 



This very interesting- and handsome bird is the greatest 

 nomad among the LimicolcB, and is perhaps tlie most cos- 

 mopolitan species on the face of the globe, being distributed 

 along the coasts of the Old and New World, and over the 

 shores of almost every island group in the universe. There 

 is but one long stretch of coast from which it is absent, and 

 on which, from Alaska to Mexico, its place is taken by its 

 near ally, *S. melanocephala. It is not, however, at all times 

 a littoral bird, for on passage to and from its breeding haunts 

 it has been found on the highlands of Yai'kand, in Central 

 Asia, and likewise on the shores of Lake Nyassa. In 

 the breeding season the Turnstone has been met with along 

 the western shores of the Nearctic and Palaearctic regions, 

 viz., from Alaska to Greenland, and from Norway to 

 Kamtschatka, including the islands of Nova Zembla and 

 Spitzbergen. It breeds, however, so far south as the shores 

 of the Baltic, and is supposed to have nested even in 

 Shetland, the Western Isles of Scotland, and the Azores ; 

 but some doubt is thrown on this hy recent authors. And in 

 this connection it is well to remark that the Turnstone is a 

 species which lingers behind in its winter quarters after j^artly 

 assuming the breeding dress ; it may be found thus attired in 

 India, Ceylon, and even in Australia, so that it cannot 

 positively be assumed on the evidence of plumage that it is 

 breeding in any particular place. 



In the early autumn a migration from the Arctic Circle sets 

 in to the south, and the Turnstone jiasses down through 

 Central Asia into Persia, India, Ceylon, the Malay Peninsula, 

 and the islands of the Indian Ocean and the Bay of Bengal. 

 At the same time other birds take a more easterly course, 

 over Mongoha and down the coasts of China and Japan to 

 Formosa, the Philippines, Malay Archi]jelago, and New 



