4214 The Zoologist — November, 1874. 



whether or not it alights at a distance from the nest upon its return, as the 

 sky lark does. I remember, however, accidentally disturbing a ringed plover 

 from its nest one snowy morning early in May. The bird, as usual, ran 

 directly away, the foot-prints thus made being the only ones upon the other- 

 wise uudisturljed surface of the snow in the immediate vicinity of the nest, 

 although there were numerous others in all directions a few yards distant. 

 After remaining in a neighbouring cottage for about ten minutes, during 

 which time no other shower had occurred, I returned to the nest, and there 

 found the bird upon the eggs, the return track being visible to the very 

 brink."— P. 164. 



I think Dr. Saxby scarcely states the case of the turnstone fairly 

 as against Macgillivray, when lie says it is a matter of surprise that 

 so careful an observer should have regarded the alleged stone- 

 turning habit as a fable, for the learned Professor only says he 

 had nearly given up the alleged habit as a fable, when he read 

 Audubon's account, which he quotes at length, and which is so 

 circumstantial that it sets the matter completely at rest, a jioint of 

 which Macgillivray no longer expresses a doubt. Dr. Saxby has 

 also been an eye-witness of this act ; he says, " I have watched 

 these birds for hours at a time, and besides witnessing the act 

 repeatedly, have afterwards visited the ground, where the displace- 

 ment of stones and shells, and even the completely reversed position 

 of some, has been quite sufficient to prove the existence of the habit 

 in question." The breeding habits of the turnstone are admirably 

 described in the paragraph which follows, and leaves nothing to be 

 desired. 



" For years after this I was sadly tantalised by seeing turnstones about 

 the shores of Unst during the breeding season, not small flocks which 

 merely waited until summer was well advanced, but pairs which lingered 

 about particular localities. It was seldom, however, that the pair were seen 

 together ; the male might be feeding upon the beach and the female several 

 hundreds of yards away upon the rough stony ground. The most likely place 

 of all seemed to be between Skioting and Clugan, and to this spot I directed 

 my attention more particularly. It was a peculiarly wild spot, quite out of 

 the way of the people's track to and from their cottages and boats, and so 

 far as I could imagine well suited to the breeding habits of the birds. The 

 ground is rough and quite uncultivated, backed by stony hills, and gradually 

 sloping towards masses of weather-worn rocks, which form a barrier, pre- 

 venting the encroachments of the sea. Where the vegetation gradually ends 

 the ground is very irregular and stony, tufts and patches of long rank grass 

 apparently offering most suitable nesting-places. On the evening of the 



