494 



THE TURNSTONE. 



of the belted variety, and the identification was confirmed through speci- 

 mens secured by Professor Hine on the following day. He also took 

 another set of four eggs about two weeks later from a nest in a similar situa- 

 tion, but some four hundred yards north of the first discovered site. From 

 the advanced stage of incubation he was sure that the eggs belonged to a 

 different pair of birds. 



The question of the validity of the two forms of Piping Plovers is 

 still open for discussion. The finding of this nest makes it certain that 

 the breeding ranges of the alleged subspecies overlap considerably. 



No. 224. 



TURNSTONE. 



A. O. U. No. ,283. Arenaria interpres (Linn.). 



Synonyms. CALICO-BACK; BRANT BIRD. 



Description. Adult in summer: Back, scapulars, etc., variegated black and 

 chestnut-rufous, with a little white edging; the black pure on sides of neck or 

 "shoulders", and continuous with that of chest; rufous predominating on wings; 

 upper lores, cheeks, sides of throat, foreneck and sides of breast glossy black; 

 throat and lower lores pure white, and the remaining portions of head and neck 

 impure white, the crown heavily or lightly streaked with black ; rump, basal por- 

 tion of tail, with lateral and longer upper coverts, the greater wing-coverts (prin- 

 cipally), and the remaining under parts, entirely white; basal portion of upper 

 tail-coverts, and subterminal portion of tail, black, the latter tipped narrowly with 

 white and rufous; more or less concealed white on primaries; altogether a piece 

 of patch-work in three colors. Bill short, stout, sharpened, but not acute; slightly 

 upturned, black; feet and legs yellow, blackening at the joints. Winter plumage: 

 Without rufous ; the black mostly replaced by brown, and the rufous by gray ; 

 black of breast much restricted. Immature : Similar to adult in winter, but 

 with some ochraceous margining above ; head chiefly dusky, the foreneck clouded 

 with dusky. Length 9.00-10.00 (228.6-254.) ; wing 5.75 (146.1) ; tail 2.30 (58.4) ; 

 bill .90 (22.9); tarsus i.oo (25.4). 



Recognition Marks. Killdeer size ; patch-work in rufous, black, and white 

 above ; black and white below ; beach-haunting habits. 



Nesting. Does not breed in Ohio. Nest, on the ground. "Eggs. 3 to 4, 

 clay-colored, blotched and scrawled with grayish brown" (Chapman). Av. size, 

 1.59 x 1.13 (40.4 x 28.7). 



General Range. Nearly cosmopolitan. In America from Greenland and 

 Alaska to the Straits of Magellan ; more or less common in the interior of North 

 America on the shores of the Great Lakes and the larger rivers. Breeds in high 

 northern latitudes. 



Range in Ohio. Not common ; found only on the Lake Erie shore, save 

 for one record at Cincinnati. 



