88 BRITISH SEA BIRDS. 



little creature, ever on the run in quest of food. 

 It may be watched hunting about the beaches, 

 or running amongst pebbles, and over the piles 

 of drifted rubbish that the tide washes up in a long 

 irregular line along the shore. In watching the 

 actions of this bird, the observer cannot fail to 

 remark its singular habit of turning over shells 

 and other objects, in quest of the small marine 

 creatures that lurk under them, with its conical 

 shaped beak, and perhaps occasionally with its 

 breast as well. This peculiarity has gained for 

 the Turnstone its trivial name. Not only does it 

 run about the sand and rocks, but it frequently 

 wades, and has even been seen to swim just outside 

 the line of breakers, rising from time to time, flying 

 a little way and then settling upon the water again, 

 The flight of this bird is not very rapid, and 

 generally taken close to the ground ; its note is 

 a shrill whistle, resembling the syllable keet. During 

 the love season this note is run into a rapid trill. 

 The food of the Turnstone is composed of sand- 

 worms, crustaceans, molluscs, and other small marine 

 animals. 



The Turnstone changes its haunts but little 

 during the breeding season. It rears its young 

 on the beaches or on rocky islets, placing its nest 

 amongst the scanty marine herbage, beneath the 

 shelter of a tuft of grass or a little bush. This is 

 merely a hollow lined with a few bits of dry grass 

 or other vegetation. The four eggs are olive-green 



