780 



STREPSILAS. 



should feed within a very short distance of it. There 

 are few birds so widely and so thinly scattered as the 

 turnstones, and few that preserve nearly the same 

 identical appearance and character in all the locali- 

 ties in which they are found. The raven is almost the 

 only other one which is so perfectly a cosmopolite, 

 and the same and equally at home in every part of the 

 world in which it is found. It is also a very ranging 

 bird, and perhaps there is hardly a locality in which it 

 is resident the whole year round, nor are there any 

 where it makes its appearance as a mere straggler 

 at a distance from the ground for which it is best 

 adapted. 



THE COLLARED TURNSTONE (S. collaris) is the 

 only known species of this bird, though on account 

 of the difference between the plumage of the old and 

 the young, and also of the seasonal changes, that one 

 has been sometimes described as two. It is a bird 

 of about eight inches and a half or nine inches in 

 length, with the tail rather short and a little rounded, 

 and the points of the wings when closed reaching 

 beyond it. In its plumage it is rather a handsome 

 bird ; the upper parts are bright maroon-red, irregu- 

 larly clouded over with huge black spots ; the top of 

 the head is reddish-white, streaked with black ; the 

 forehead, cheeks, a large collar, part of the back, the 

 middle of the breast, and the under parts are pure 

 white ; a black band passes over the front before the 

 eyes, and divides into two parts, one of which extends 

 to the gape and the other down the side of the neck, 

 becoming broader as it descends, and forming a large 

 gorget on the lower neck and breast ; there is a large 

 band of brown on the rump ; the external margins of 

 the tail are white ; the feet yellowish-orange, and the 

 bill black. The colours of the female are nearly the 

 same in their distribution, but they are paler in the 

 tint. The young of the first year are very differently 

 marked, being without even a trace of black or red ; 

 the upper parts are dark brown, with margins of pale 

 yellowish to the feathers ; the head and neck are dull 

 ash-colour, streaked with black ; the sides of the 

 head and neck grey, mottled with white ; the throat 

 and foreneck whitish ; the sides of the breasts brown, 

 with white margins to the feathers ; and the rest of 

 the under part white, with the exception of a broad 

 band of brown on the vent-feathers ; the bill is black- 

 ish, and the feet are reddish- yellow. The full plumage 

 of maturity is not acquired till the birds are two years 

 old ; and those of a year old are also different from 

 the young ; they have the collar and breast-plate 

 blackish, with white margins to the feathers ; the 

 cheeks whitish, dotted with black ; the top of the 

 head deep brown, with black spots ; and the back 

 mottled with black, and reddish ; there is also a large 

 white spot upon each side of the tail. 



One need not wonder that a bird which varies so 

 much in its plumage, should have its history a little 

 confused ; and the confusion is evinced by the fact 

 that the movements of it at the different seasons, 

 even (regarding it as a British bird) are very imper- 

 fectly understood. In places near the south it ap- 

 pears only in the winter ; but it departs later and 

 comes earlier than many of our migrant birds ; so 

 that it is not absent above two or three of the very 

 hottest months of the year. That the birds which 

 remain till the summer has begun are the same indi- 

 viduals that return before it closes is not very likely ; 

 but still, the lingering delay and the early visiting are 

 so unlike what happens in most birds, that they ren- 



der it probable that some of the turnstones at least 

 may breed in the country, although in what part of it 

 is not known. In the northern islands it is still more 

 puzzling ; for a few stragglers remain there all the 

 summer through, and yet the nest has not been found 

 there. They breed on the rocky islands which are 

 so numerous on the coast of Norway ; and probably 

 as far to the north as there is a trench clear of ice to 

 be found. They are birds of excellent wing, and 

 powerful muscles, and thus they are capable of 

 making a long journey in a single flight; but what 

 their actual rate and style of migratory motion, in the 

 distances to which they actually migrate, are, we have 

 no means of ascertaining. They appear in little 

 troops, but the migrations appear to be performed in 

 pairs ; and when even hundreds migrate in this 

 manner, they are- not readily observed. From 

 their limited numbers, and the late period to which 

 they remain, and the early! one at which they again 

 appear, it is by no means improbable that some of 

 them breed on the wilds, near those shores upon 

 which they are seen at so short a time both before 

 and after the breeding season. That their nests have 

 not been met with is no conclusive evidence against 

 their being there ; for there are parallel cases in the 

 dotterels and some of the snipes ; the former of which 

 must breed in thousands upon some parts of our wild 

 uplands ; and yet a single one is rarely seen on the 

 breeding ground, or during the breeding season. But 

 their history wants a good deal of investigation be- 

 fore we can speak positively concerning it. 



North America is a country far better adapted to 

 the habits of the turnstone than any part of Europe ; 

 and accordingly the bird is much more common there 

 than it is with us. It is more of a regular migrant 

 in America than in Europe ; and there are facilities 

 for this in the situation of the country. A bird can 

 pass between the extreme north and the tropical re- 

 gions upon a line of almost unbroken beach, the 

 greater part of which abounds in rich pastures for 

 those birds. Thus the turnstone can proceed by very 

 easy stages, feeding as it proceeds, and not requiring 

 to be stationary at any time, except the breeding 

 season. They winter in the southern parts, visit the 

 middle states in April, and remain there two months, 

 and then remove farther to the north where they 

 breed, returning to the middle states about October, 

 and leaving them for the south when the cold weather 

 sets in. The movements of the turnstone on the 

 American coasts are thus very easily traced ; but 

 they depend of course upon the character of the sea- 

 sons there, which are not the same as the seasons in 

 Europe. In other respects there is, however, but 

 little difference between the birds in the two conti- 

 nents, in size, in colour, or in any other respect. 

 They are subject to the same changes with age and 

 with the seasons, and similar in all parts of their 

 economy. The situation of the nest is not fully as- 

 certained, as it has not been often enough seen for 

 that purpose. The eggs are said to be placed in a 

 very rude nest on the ground, to be in general four in 

 number, olive in the ground, with brown spots. It is 

 probable that they vary in colour, which is often 

 the case with the eggs of birds that are subject to va- 

 riations. 



When the turnstones fly, they utter a querulous 

 sort of twittering note. They also often run about 

 with the wings half opened, and serving as balances 

 to the body ; but they do not run so swiftly as the 



