The Turnstone. 



265 



TURNSTONE. 



lie underneath. We have often seen one turnstone 

 run up and assist another in doing this, and have even 

 noticed three of them 

 at work raising one 

 stone, like quarrymen 

 with their crowbars. 

 They do not merely 

 lift a stone and reach 

 under it, but gradu- 

 ally hoist it up till 

 it balances upright, 

 then with a great 

 effort the stone is 

 pushed over, and all 

 is exposed underneath. If a strange turnstone appears 

 on the scene who did not assist in the work, there is 

 a great scrimmage, and the interloper is sent about his 

 business. We once watched two turnstones for a full 

 hour trying to turn over a dead fish, nearly a foot 

 long, without success. We longed to help them in 

 their struggles, but dared not come forward for fear of 

 frightening them away. Finally, with a strong heave 

 and a heave all together, over went the fish, to our very 

 great gratification. It was a pleasure to see through 

 a glass how the birds revelled in all manner of creep- 

 ing things, which their hard won success had exposed 

 to view." 



One of the most striking passages in the life of 

 Thomas Edward, the Banff naturalist, tells precisely 

 the same story, how, seeing two of these birds on the 

 beach near Banff, he crept through the " bents," till he 

 got so near as to be able to watch them in their efforts 

 to turn over a big fish which had sunk an inch or two 

 in the sand, how they tunnelled under it and under it, 



