124 



FILtlCOCIAL GRALLATOUES — LIMICOL.E. 



usually remains longer in one place than most Waders. When on the wing it is said 

 to utter a loud twittering note. It can be readily reconciled to confinement, and will 

 feed on a variety of food, (luite different from that which it .seeks in a wild state. 

 Rev. Dr. Bachman once kept a bird of this species alive. It had recovered from a 

 slight wound, when lie presented it to a lady who fed it on boiled rice and bread soaked 

 in milk, of both of which it was cpiite fond. It became perfectly gentle, and fed 

 from the hand of its mistress, frequently bathed in a vessel kei)t at hand for that 

 purpose, and nevt-r attempted to escape, although left quite at liberty to do so. Mr. 

 Audubon, in the neighl)orhood of St. Augustiiu', Florida, saw this Turnstone feed- 

 ing on the oyster-beds, searching for such oysters as had been killed by the heat of 

 the sun, and picking out the contents ; it would also strike at such small bivalves 

 as had tliin shells, and break them. While on the Florida coast, near Cape Sable, 

 he shot one, in the month of May, which had its stomach filled with the beautiful 

 shells, which on acicouut of their resemblani i' to grains of rice are commonly called 

 rice-shells. 



Mr. MacFarlane met with a flock of about a dozen of these birds at Fort An- 

 derson, June, 1864, and obtained a single specimen. They were seen on the river 

 below the fort. He was informed by the Esquimaux that this sijecies was tolerably 

 numerous on the Arctic coast as well as on the islands in Liverpool Bay. Except 

 on the large island in Franklin Bay, where several of this species were seen in July, 

 1864, Mr. MacFarlane's party noticed none of these birds, either on the "Barren 

 Grounds," or on any part of the coast visited by them. He afterward met with them 

 on the Lower Anderson, and found two nests, both precisely similar to those of the 

 other Waders, consisting of a few withered leaves placed in a depression in the 

 ground, each containing four eggs. 



Mr. H. W. Elliott states that this bird visits the I'rybilof Islands, arriving in flocks 

 of thousands about the third week in July, and leaving September 10, but not breeding 

 there. On its arrival it is quite poor ; but feeding on the larvai on the killing-grounds, 

 it rapidly fattens, and often bursts open as it falls to the ground after having been 

 shot. Mr. Elliott met with this bird at sea, eight hundred miles from the nearest 

 land, flying in a northwesterly direction towards the Aleutian Islands. 



The eggs of few species of Waders vary more than do those of Lhc Turi-stone. 

 They vary in shape from a rounded to an oblong ovoid, in length from 1.60 to 1.72 

 inches, and in breadth from 1.13 to 1.23 inches, averaging about 1.66 by 1.18. Their 

 ground-colors are a light olive-brown, a cream color, a light drab, and a deep clay- 

 color. The eggs are deeply and boldly marked, chiefly about the larger end, with 

 large splashes and blotches of light-brown, in some washed with a lilac shade, and in 

 others with a tinge of bronze. 



Strepsilas melanocephalua. 



BLACK TinurSTONE. 



strepsilas melanocephalus, Vigors, ZoiJl. Joum. IV. Jan. 1829, 356 ; Zoiil. Blossom, 1839, 29. — 

 Baird, B. N. Am. 1858, 702; Cat. N. Am. B. 1859, no. 516. — Ridgw. Norn. N. Am. B. 1881, 

 no. 510 (mdaiUHxphala). 



Strepsilas interpres, var. melanocephahis, Coues, Key, 1872, 247 ; Check List. 1873, no. 406(i. 



Stre.psilas interpres mclanocephaliLS, CouES, Check List, 2tl ed. 1882, no. 599. 



Had. Pacific coast of North America, south to Monterey, California, north to the Aleutian 

 Islands; accidental in India. 



Sp. Char. Head, neck, breast, and upper parts in general, fuliginous dusky, with a faint 



