TURNSTONE. 521 



basal, lateral, linear, pervious, partly covered by a membrane. Wings 

 long, pointed, the first quill-feather the longest. Feet four-toed, three in 

 front, one behind ; the anterior toes united by a membrane at the base, 

 and furnished with narrow rudimentary interdigital membranes ; hind toe 

 articulated up the tarsus, and only touching the ground at the tip. 



THE name of Turnstone has long been applied to this 

 species from the method adopted by these birds of search- 

 ing for food by turning over small stones with their strong 

 beaks to get at the marine insects that lurk under them. 

 The habit is not more singular than the species, which is 

 the only one of the genus hitherto discovered by naturalists, 

 and is remarkable for the beauty and variety of its plumage. 

 In Dorsetshire it is called the Variegated Plover. It in- 

 habits the sea-shore and the margins of lakes and large 

 rivers, occasionally associating with some of the smaller 

 Plovers or the Sanderling, already described, which it 

 more resembles in its manners than the Sandpipers. It 

 feeds on the smaller Crustacea, and the soft-bodied animals 

 inhabiting thin shells, turning over stones, and searching 

 among sea-weed for its food ; but is observed to dwell 

 longer in one place, if not disturbed, than the Plovers, 

 and is said to utter a loud twittering note when on the 

 wing. 



It frequents our coast either singly or in small flocks of 

 four or five in number, from August throughout the winter 

 till May, when it leaves us to go northward to breed, and 

 returns in August with its young, which at that time have 

 none of the fine, rich, red, black, or white colours, so 

 conspicuous in the adult birds. Dr. Fleming says it is 

 stationary in Zetland, and from having seen it there at all 

 seasons, concluded it bred there. When on the coast of 

 Norway, Mr. He wits on says, " We had visited numerous 

 islands with little encouragement, and were about to land 

 upon a flat rock, bare except where here and there grew 

 tufts of grass, or stunted juniper clinging to its surface, 



