THE TURNSTONE 407 



pass along our coasts, sometimes in very large numbers, from the end 

 of April to the first week in June. These dates are given by Dr. N. 

 F. Ticehurst for Kent, 1 and I think may be taken as the limits of the 

 overseas migration. The few birds that pass the winter with us 

 probably move north earlier than those that winter farther south, as 

 migratory movements have been observed in the Isle of Man as 

 early as March 21st 2 and in Cheshire on April 10th. 3 



Of the habits of the turnstone in the pairing season but little 

 appears to have been recorded. Expeditions to their nesting-localities 

 have generally had as a main object the collecting of eggs ; and the 

 published accounts have generally been limited to exhaustive 

 descriptions of how the nests were found. Mr. Trevor-Battye, during 

 his enforced sojourn on the Island of Kolguev, ascertained that the 

 turnstone makes several false nests, or scrapes, as does the lapwing 

 (see p. 372 d seq.), and that like many other species of Waders 

 the male has a note or song peculiar to the nesting season, which 

 he describes as pretty, and renders as " chtwd h-chiwdh-chiweeki ki lei 

 ki ki ki" 4 The ordinary note uttered on the wing is a long chuck- 

 ling twitter, very difficult to describe in words. Professor Patten 

 renders it "chlc-a, chlc-a chlc-a chee" 5 



In some localities the turnstone nests near the sea, but it more 

 often frequents moors and barren fells several miles inland, and at a 

 fair altitude. Hewitson, who appears to have been the first English 

 naturalist to describe the nesting-habits of this species, found the 

 birds nesting on small rocky islands off the coast of Norway. The 

 first nest found was placed against a ledge of rock, and under a 

 creeping branch of a juniper bush, a few leaves of which served as 

 lining. 6 The Rev. H. H. Slater found them breeding in Iceland on a 

 lichen-covered moor seven miles from the sea, and at an altitude of 



1 A History of the Birds of Kent, p. 434. 



5 British Ornithologists Club, Migration Report, October 1910, vol. xxvi. p. 186. 

 3 Ibid., November 1909, vol. xxiv. p. 175. 



* Icebound on Kolguev, p. 432. 



6 Aquatic Birds, p. 245. 



Yarrell, British Birds, iii. p. 292. 



