No. 54.] BIRD NAMES. 135 



Young. "Without mahogany color or black ; upper parts un- 

 evenly marked instead with brown and yellowish gray; the 

 breast duskily mottled, or showing in a shadowy and imperfect 

 way the markings of the adult, the whole plumage having a 

 very commonplace and washed-out appearance, compared with 

 that of the full-dressed bird ; the bill less black ; the legs and 

 feet pale orange. 



Length eight and a half to nine inches ; extent seventeen to 

 eighteen inches. Bill about seven eighths of an inch long. 



A " nearly cosmopolitan " species, found chiefly along the 

 sea-coast, but met with also on the shores of large inland waters. 



I have eaten this kind several times, but can now only re- 

 member my sensations upon one occasion. I tried them a year 

 or two ago on the Jersey coast, and though I was very hungry 

 at the time, they proved altogether too strong for me. 



TURNSTONE (so called from its habit of turning over small 

 stones in search of food) : COMMON TURNSTONE (distinguish- 

 ing it from A. melanocephala of the Pacific coast, a similar 

 but blacker bird, without the mahogany color of this species) : 

 SEA DOTTEREL (Catesby) : HEBRIDAL SANDPIPER (Pennant, 

 and Hearne) : Hearne tells also of its being known at Hudson's 

 Bay as WHALE-BIRD, on account of its "feeding on the car- 

 casses of those animals," and he remarks concerning its flesh : 

 "They are usually very fat, but even when first killed they 

 smell and taste so much like train-oil as to render them by 

 no means pleasing to the palate" (Journey to Northern Ocean, 

 1769-72, published 1795). 



Wilson says (1813) : " On the coast of Cape May and Egg 

 Harbor this bird is well known by the name of the HORSE-FOOT 

 SNIPE, from its living during the months of May and June 

 almost wholly on the eggs or spawn of the great king crab, 

 called here by the common people the horse-foot." I have made 

 many inquiries along "the coast of Cape May and Egg Har- 

 bor," but can nowhere find the latter name so applied (see 

 No. 52), yet in some out-of-the-way corner No. 54 may still be 

 the Horse-foot Snipe as it was in Wilson's time. I will add 



