Bill I 'S. 



479 



The turnstones and oyster-catchers are also aberrant plovers. The 

 oyster-catcher is one of the wariest of the shore-birds, and one that never 

 ventures far from the salt water. It has a strong, compressed bill, very 

 useful in prying open the shells of the smaller mussels, and in cracking 

 the bodies of the fiddler-crabs. The turnstone has somewhat similar 

 habits, and as its name implies, wanders about the shore, turning over the 

 stones in its search for food. The species figured has a nearly cosmopolitan 

 distribution, being found on the sea-shores of nearly all countries. 



Fig. 404. — Turnstone (Arenaria interpres). 



The jacanas, of which there are four species, are tropical birds which 

 at first sight seem to have but little relationship to the plovers, but would 

 ordinarily be regarded as rails. They have the same long legs and toes, 

 and the general facies of a rail ; but anatomy, which decides such questions, 

 clearly indicates their affinities to be with the plovers. Our cut of a South 

 American species will show the general appearance of the American forms, 

 one of which just enters the United States in Texas. The long toes, ter- 

 minating in the extra long and sharp claws, make it easy for them to run 

 about on the leaves of water-plants, while the strong spurs on the wings as 



