122 



PILECOCIAL GUALLATOUES — LIMICOL^. 





Yarrell states that it frequents tlie liritisli coast, either singly or in small flocks of 

 four or five in number, from August throughout the winter till May. 13r. Fleming 

 states that it is resident in Zetland, and found there at all seasons. liewitson men- 

 tions its breeding on the coast of Norway. After visiting numerous islands, he was 

 alxmt to land on a Hat rock, bare except where, here and there, tufts of grass or 

 stunted jani])er were growing, wlien his attention was attracted by the singular cry 

 of a Turnstone, which liad perched itself upon an eminence of the rock, assuring him 

 by its querulous, oft-repeated note and anxious motions, that its nest was tliere. 

 After a miinite search he succeeded in finding the latter placed against a ledge of the 

 rock, and consisting of nothing more than the dropping leaves of the junii)er-bush, 

 under a creeping l)ranch of which the eggs, four in number, were snugly concealed, 

 admirably sheltered, and allowing just sufficient room for the bird to cover them. He 

 afterward found several other nests, each containing four eggs. The time of breed- 

 ing was the middle of .June. He describes their eggs as having an olive-green ground, 

 spotted and streaked with ashy blue, and two shades of reddish brown. They meas- 

 ured 1.59 by 1.17 inches. 



Professor Alfred Newton mentions that the Turnstone is said by Faber to occur 

 in Iceland, being more common in the south and west than in the north. It arrives 

 about the last week in April, and breeds in Iceland, as Mr. Proctor received its eggs 

 froju the northern portion of that island. It usually leaves again in the autunni ; 

 but a few remain late in the season, as Faber obtained one Dec. 11, 18L'0. 



In America it occurs throughout the continent, Mr. Charles Darwin finding it, on 

 the voyage of the " Beagle," in the Straits of ilagellan, and the various Arctic ex- 

 plorers meeting with it in North (rreenland, on Winter Island, at Felix Harbor, and 

 on the coast near F uiy Point and Victoria Harbor. Dr. Walker found it breeding 

 early in June in the marshy valleys in Bellot's Strait. Ileinhardt includes it among 

 the birds of Greenland. Cai>tain Blakiston met with it at York Factory, Hudson's 

 Bay, in August, and Mr. Boss mentions it as i)resent, but as rare, on the Macken- 

 zie liiver. Ivichardson speaks of it as common in tlie Fur Country, where it reaches 

 its breeding-quarters on the shores of Hudsou's Bay and the Arctic Sea, as far north 

 as the T-jth parallel, in Jiuie, leaving them at the beginning of September. It is 

 common in Bermuda during the winter, and is of irregular occurrence in most, or all, 

 of the West India Islands. Professor Newton met with it in St. Croix in April, 1857, 

 and Mr. E. Newton saw it there, Sept. 8, 1858. Leotaud speaks of it as a migratory 

 visitant of Trinidad, where it never fails to arrive in August, departing in October. 

 It is said to be almost always found alone, flitting along the borders of the sea, some- 

 times silent, and at other times uttering a soft, peculiar cry, which is not easily 

 described. Certain kinds of shore seem to suit it best ; in these it stops to search 

 under the small stores, which it turns over with its bill for the worms, etc., on which 

 it feeds. It is the " Plover " of Trinidad ; but its flesh is not held in high esteem. 

 It was taken by Xantus on the Bio Zacatula, in Mexico, and by others in Ecuador, 

 Guiana, the Argentine Bepublic, I'eru, Chili, and in the West Indies. 



Mr. Salvin obtained specimens late in April among the islands on the coast of 

 Honduras, and mentions it as common in winter on both coasts of Guatemala. Mr. 

 Dresser noticed a number of these birds quite close to Galveston on the 26th of May, 

 1864 ; and afterward, on a second visit, found them as late as June. It is a regular 

 visitant to Massachusetts in its migrations, passing north usually in April, and 

 coming south in September or August. It was quite common on tlie shore of Lake 

 Koskonong, "Wis., about Aug. 15, 1873. Gnly a single specimen is known to have 

 baeu taken on the Pacific coast — by Dr. Cooper at the mouth of the Columbia. 



