Minor British Game Birds. 153 



morsel to the gourmet. The turnstone, also 

 known as the Hebridal sandpiper, is a hand- 

 some bird in black, white, and chestnnt. In its 

 haunts it feeds upon various sea and sand haunting 

 creatures, which it obtains by turning over the 

 stones with its bill. In this office the birds 

 often assist each other. It comes in September 

 in limited numbers, going north to its breeding 

 haunts early in spring. 



The dotterel and Norfolk plover are summer 

 visitants. The former breeds upon the tops of 

 the highest mountains, and rarely stays more 

 than a few days during the times of the spring 

 and autumn migrations. It is every year 

 decreasing in consequence of the persistency 

 with which it is hunted down for feathers for 

 dressing flies. We have found it breeding upon 

 Skiddaw, Sea Fell, and Helvellyn. The Norfolk 

 plover, thick knee, or stone curlew, is a summer 

 visitant, coming in small numbers, and being only 

 locally distributed. It breeds in a few of the 

 eastern counties. 



December, with its frost and snow, its cold grey 

 skies, and biting northern weather, always brings 

 with it skeins of swans, geese, and wild-fowl. The 

 heart of the fowler warms as he hears the clangour 

 and wild cries of the birds afar up, for although he 

 cannot see their forms, he easily determines the 

 species. He hears the gaggle of geese, the 

 trumpetings of wild swans, and the cry of the 



