410 OYSTERCATCHER AND TURNSTONE 



on the Hampshire coast, arriving in numbers as early as August 1st ; 

 there was a daily increase up to the llth, when the maximum was 

 reached. From this date there was a steady decrease, and the last 

 birds were seen on the 28th, on which date large numbers arrived in 

 Devonshire. 1 I have seen them on the Norfolk coast in the first 

 week of August, generally in small parties of five or six, and always 

 immature birds. Like the immature birds of other species of Waders 

 that come to us direct from remote northern localities, these young 

 turnstones are tame and confiding, giving excellent opportunities 

 for watching them as they run busily about in search of food. 



The turnstone, unlike most of its congeners, is seldom seen 

 standing in contemplative mood, waiting for the ebb, for its food 

 lurks under the dried seaweed and various rubbish thrown up by 

 the tide, as well as under stones, large and small, which are quite 

 as productive above as below high-tide mark. Its habit of turning 

 over stones for whatever living creatures are concealed beneath 

 explains its familiar name. The birds generally work in small 

 parties, each runs busily from stone to stone, puts its bill under 

 the edge, and deftly turns it over or aside. Bits of drift-wood, 

 oyster-shells, and clods of mud are served in the same way ; seaweed 

 it tosses from side to side, while it examines with quaint sideways 

 glances every crack and cranny in the rocks and larger stones. 

 It lifts small and moderate-sized stones and other objects with 

 a quick upward motion of its bill. The larger, heavier ones it 

 raises a little with its bill, then crouching low down, applies its 

 breast to the raised edge and pushes until the stone rolls over. 

 Various instances have been recorded of several turnstones uniting 

 their efforts to dislodge an object too large for one to manage. 

 Edward, the Scottish naturalist, saw two turnstones trying to turn 

 over a codfish, three feet long, partly buried in the sand. They tried 

 hard with their bills, then with their breasts. Failing to move the 

 fish, both went to the other side and began to scrape away the 



1 B. O, C. Migration Report, vol. xxviii., Aug. 1911, p. 251. 



