THE TURNSTONE. 



669 



The name is derived from its movements when feeding, at which times it runs along 

 the beach, picking up sandhoppers, marine worms, and other creatures, and turning over 

 the stones in its course for the purpose of getting at the small crustaceae that are generally 

 fcund in such situations. This bird is spread over a considerable portion of the world, 

 and is found even in Northern America, where it retains the same habits which distinguish 

 it in Europe. According to Wilson, it feeds almost wholly, during May and June, on the 

 spawn of the king-crab, and is known by the name of the Horse-foot Snipe, the king-crab 

 being popularly called the horse-foot crab. It runs with some speed, but not the rapidity 

 that characterises many shore-loving birds, and spends some time in examining any spot 

 of ground to which it has taken a fancy, tossing the pebbles from side to side, and 

 picking up the unfortunate being that may have lain under their shelter. 



TURNSTONE. Cincius interpret. 



The nest of this bird is situated upon the coast, and the bird is very valiant in its 

 attacks upon the gulls which approach too near its home. A nest found by Mr. Hewitson 

 " was placed against a ledge of rock, and consisted of nothing more than the drooping 

 leaves of the juniper-bush, under a creeping branch, by which the eggs, four in number, 

 were snugly concealed, and admirably sheltered from the many storms by which these 

 bleak and exposed rocks are visited, allowing just sufficient room for the bird to cover 

 them. The several nests that we examined were placed in the same situation as the one 

 described, with the exception of two, one of which was under a slanting stone, the other 

 on the bare rock ; all the nests contained four eggs each. Their time of breeding is about 

 the middle of June. The eggs measure one inch seven lines in length, by one inch two 

 lines in breadth, of an olive-green colour spotted and streaked with ash-blue and two 

 shades of reddish brown." These nests were found on the coast of Norway. 



The top of the head is white streaked with black, and a black band crosses the fore- 

 head and passes over the eyes. The chin, face, and sides of the neck are white, and the 

 breast is jetty black, throwing out black branches shaped like the gnarled boughs of the 

 oak, which run to the base of the bill, the lower eyelid, the back of the neck, and the 

 shoulders. The upper part of the back is also black, with a band of bright rust-red, and 

 the lower part white, with a broad band of black just above the tail-coverts. The under 

 parts are pure white, and the legs and toes are scarlet-orange. The length of the bird is 

 rather more than nine inches. 



THE two birds represented on the following engraving are natives of Tropical America 



