

THE COMMON TURNSTONE. 371 



instead of commiserating, mocked the agonies of the 

 Redeemer. The Vipa is more specially named, and as a 

 punishment it is condemned to dwell for everlasting in fens 

 and morasses. 



Some, however, give a different version to the legend. 

 They say that this hird was a handmaicfen of the Blessed 

 Virgin, and whilst in servitude, purloined its mistress's silver 

 scissors, and that, as a judgment, the transformation took 

 place ; moreover, that as a brand for the theft, its tail was 

 forked in the manner of scissors, and that it was doomed 

 for ever to fly from tussock to tussock, uttering its plaintive 

 tyvity tyvit that is, " I stole them ! I stole them !" 



The Common Turnstone (Roskarl, Sw. ; Strepsilas 

 collaris, Temm. ; S. Inter pres* Leach) was quite common 

 during the summer in the neighbouring Skargard, where its 

 rich and varied plumage seemed almost out of character with 

 the surrounding sterility and desolation. It is also pretty 

 common on all the coasts of Scandinavia (as well those of 

 the Baltic as the North Sea) from Scania to near the North 

 Cape. Occasionally it is met with in the interior of the 

 country. It would seem to arrive late in Sweden ; we at 

 least seldom noticed it before the spring was well advanced. 

 It is tolerably common on the coasts of Denmark. Migrates. 



The turnstone pairs. It makes its nest which to my 

 knowledge is exceedingly difficult to find amongst stones, 

 or it may be in a hole in the sand. The female lays from 

 three to four pear-shaped eggs, of a greenish-grey colour, 



* The name of Interpres, according to Nilsson, originated in mistake on 

 the part of Linnaeus. It is not this bird, but the Red-shanked Sandpiper 

 (Tot anus Calidris, Bechst.), that on the islands in the Baltic is called by the 

 fishermen Tolk, or interpreter, because of its constant and shrill cry, whereby 

 it warns other birds of the approach of the fowler. 



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