STRErSILAS. 223 



the same reason as that already assigned for the disuse of Mkropus 

 as the generic name of the Common Swift : Arenaria, like 

 Micropus, being a well-known Linnean genus of plants. 



1430. Strepsilas interpres. The Turnstone. 

 Tringa interpres, Linn. Syst. Nat.i, p. 248 (1766). 



p. 376 ; Reid, S. F. x, p. 452 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 338 j Sharpe, 



York. Miss., Aves, p. 139. 

 Arenaria interpres, Vieill. Nouv. Diet. d'Hist. Nat. xxxiv, p. 345 ; 



Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 92. 

 Cinclus interpres, G. R. Gray, Gen. B. iii, p. 549 ; Hume, S. F. i, 



p. 233 ; ii, p. 292. 



Fig. 50. Head of S. interpres. \. 



Coloration. In winter the head above and at the sides is brown 

 with darker streaks, the ear-coverts more uniform brown ; upper 

 back, scapulars, tertiaries, and wing-coverts dark brown, the 

 feathers with slight pale edges ; some of the under scapulars are 

 partially or wholly white ; quills dark brown with white shafts and 

 part of the inner web white, some of the inner secondaries entirely 

 white ; lower back, rump, and longer upper tail-coverts white ; 

 shorter upper tail-coverts dark brown ; tail dark brown, the 

 feathers white at the base, and all except the median pair with 

 buff or white tips, outermost pair almost wholly white ; chin, 

 throat, and lower parts from breast white, fore neck and sides of 

 breast brown. 



In summer plumage the head is white, with streaks of black on 

 the crown and a black band from the forehead to the front of the 

 eye, joined to a black patch below the eye; a band from the 

 gape, a partial collar on the sides of the neck, the fore neck, and 

 sides of the breast all black ; rest of lower parts white ; the back, 

 scapulars, tertiaries, and wing-coverts are partly black, partly deep 

 rufous. Intermediate stages between the summer and winter 

 plumage are common. 



Bill black ; iris brown ; legs and feet orange-red ; claws black. 



Length 8*5 ; tail 2-35 ; wing 6 ; tarsus 1 ; bill from gape 1. 



Distribution. Almost world-wide, A winter visitor to the 

 Indian coasts and islands, but generally rare or of occasional 



