120 



PKJECOCIAL GRALLATORES — LIMIC0LJ5. 



ReuiaiuJer of the lower parts, upper part of the rump, upper tail-coverts, and ends of secondaries, 

 pure white. BreuUnij-pluma{ie : Upper parts duslvv blackish, the wing-coverts lighter, more 

 brownish gray, the feathers showing darker centres ; back and scapulars little, if at all, varied with 

 rufous; crown dusliy, uniform, or streaked. Spriwj (and winter'!) phmuiyc: Upper parts mixed 

 black and bright rufous, the latter color occupying chiefly the raidiUe of the back (longitudinally) 

 aud the wing-coverts, the scapulars and tertials mixed black and rufous. Pilemn more streaked 

 witli white, and markings about the head and neck more sharply defined than in the summer dress. 

 " Bill black ; iris hazel ; feet deep orange-red, claws black" (Auddbon). Young : Head chiefly 

 mottled grayish, without well-defined markings ; black of the jugulum and breast indicated by 

 mottled dusky, occupying the same area, but not sharply defined ; upper parts grayish dusky, the 

 I'eatliers Ijordered terminally with buff' or whitish. 



Total length about 9 inches; wing, 6.00; tail, 2.0O ; culmeu, .S0-.9O; tarsus, l.UO ; middle 

 toe, .75. 



Spring plimmqe. 



The variations noted in a series of more than sixty specimens of tliis species are chiefly individ- 

 ual and seasonal. E.xamples are variously intermediate, according to the season, between the two 

 quite distinct stages of jiluniage described above as tlie breeding and the winter dress. Unfortu- 

 nately there ai-e very few specimens from otlier countries than America, so that we cannot say 

 whether those from ilitl'erent continents differ perceptiljly. Two European examples, however, in 

 the winter livery, seem identical with American skins. 



The specimens in the dark, dull-colored summer plumage have been erroneously considered as 

 showing a tendency toward the characters of S. mdanocephahcs, or forming the " connecting link" 

 between that species and iS'. iaterpres — this view being apparently based on geographical consider- 

 ations, the specimens upon which this ojsinion was founded coming from the Pryliilof Islands. 

 Specimens in the same plumage occur, however, throughout the northern regions, including tlie 

 Old Woi-ld, and apparently represent simply the summer dress. 



The series of smnmer specimens from other localities than Alaska, however, is unfortunately 

 very small ; ami it may possibly prove true, that what we have described above as the breeding- 

 plumage of true S. iaterpres represents really a darker-colored Alaskan race, and that the brighter- 

 colored plumage described as the winter dress is really the full breeding-plunnige of true interpres. 

 However this may be, the dark Alaskan birds have nothing whatever to do with S. melanocepluthis, 

 which has not only very diff'erent proportions, but also in every stage a conspicuously difl'erent 

 ]iattern of coloration. 



The Common Turnstone is one of the most widely disti'ibuted and at the same 

 time one of the most abundant of birds. Breeding in great numbers in all the high 

 Art-tic regions, and in the northern portions of both continents, it wanders thence 

 southward over all lands. It is found at certain seasons on both the Atlantic and 

 Pacific shores, and also in the interior of North and South America, as far even as the 

 Straits of Magellan. It has been taken in various parts of Europe. Africa, and Asia. 



