496 TURNSTONE, OYSTER-CATCHER. GRUID.E, OR CRANES. 



the mouths of rivers, especially in the southern part of our island. 

 The Turnstones have a short bill, thick at the base, and narrowing 

 gradually to the point ; and with this they turn over the stones 

 on the sea-shore, in quest of the small molluscous and crustaceous 

 animals on which they feed. The species which visits our shores 

 is very universally diffused ; being met with in almost every part 

 both of the northern and southern hemispheres. It breeds in 

 high latitudes, and migrates towards the tropics for the winter 

 season. Another curious Bird of this group is the Oyster-Catcher; 

 the bill of which is long, hard, and compressed towards its point, 

 which is abrupt and chisel -like. With this instrument it opens 

 the shells of bivalve mollusks, such as mussels, oysters, &c. ; and 

 detaches limpets from the rock. It wades in quest of its food 

 amongst the shallows ; and swims where the depth forbids 

 wading. This Bird is distributed over the whole of the European 

 Continent, and a great part of Asia and Africa, frequenting chiefly 

 the low flat coasts, and laying its eggs on the bare ground amidst 

 the shingle, or such herbage as grows above high- water mark. 



447. In the family GRUID^:, 

 or Cranes, the hind toe is rather 

 short ; and is much higher on the 

 legs than the front ones. The 

 beak is strong, hard, and rather long. 

 The wings are rounded ; and the 

 tertiary feathers elongated into 

 drooping plumes. Instead of deriv- 

 ing their sole subsistence from the 

 worms, insects, &c., of lakes and 

 morasses, the members of this family 

 live in great measure on vegetable 

 food ; and frequent plains and newly- 

 sown lands, and cultivated districts. 

 The Common Crane (Fig. 280) 

 is an inhabitant of a large portion of 

 Europe, Asia, and Africa: it was 



. . . FIG. 280. CRANE. 



formerly a regular visitor to our 



island, but seems to have been driven away by the advance of cul- 



