486 The Water-fowl Family 



any one is near. The nests are hollows in the 

 stony beaches near high-water mark. The eggs 

 are three to four in number and vary as much 

 in coloring as do the birds themselves. The 

 young are fledged in July, and we see the first 

 flocks of old birds late in this month. The turn- 

 stone is occasionally taken, during its breeding 

 season, far to the south, in temperate climes. 

 That they ever actually breed in these localities 

 is doubtful. On islands in the South Pacific, it 

 is said, the natives keep these birds in cages as 

 pets, and also match them against each other as 

 fighting cocks. 



Mr. Palmer describes the turnstone on the 

 Pribilof Islands as arriving about the middle of 

 July, and by the end of the month abounding 

 everywhere, reaching the island by the north- 

 eastern shore, flying southward until the killing- 

 ground is reached; here they swarm about the 

 seal carcasses and feed on the maggots that infest 

 them, becoming so fat they are run down and 

 captured by the young Aleuts. Soon after the 

 first of August the birds begin to take their 

 departure from the Pribilofs. About six in the 

 evening a small flock of forty or more rise into 

 the air from the village pond with loud, shrill 

 cries, sweeping about the head of the lagoon and 

 gathering fresh recruits, make a straight course 

 high over the village and out to sea. From the 



