32 TURNSTONE. 
have been informed, are obtained there, and along the coast of Maine, 
in the latter part of July. 
I have found this bird much more shy when in company with other 
species than when in flocks by itself, when it appears to suspect no 
danger from man. Many instances of this seeming inattention have 
occurred to me, among others the following:—When I was on the 
island of Galveston in Texas, my friend Epwarp Harkxts, my son, and 
some others of our party, had shot four deer, which the sailors had 
brought to our little camp near the shore. Feeling myself rather fa~ 
tigued, I did not return to the bushes with the rest, who went in search 
of more venison for our numerous crew, but proposed, with the assist- 
ance of one of the sailors, to skin the deer. After each animal was 
stripped of its hide, and deprived of its head and feet, which were 
thrown away, the sailor and I took it to the water and washed it. To 
my surprise, I observed four Turnstones directly in our way to the 
water. They merely ran to a little distance out of our course, and on 
our returning, came back immediately to the same place ; this they 
did four different times, and, after we were done, they remained busily 
_ engaged in searching for food. None of them was more than fifteen 
or twenty yards distant, and I was delighted to see the ingenuity with 
which they turned over the oyster-shells, clods of mud, and other small 
bodies left exposed by the retiring tide. Whenever the object was 
not too large, the bird bent its legs to half their length, placed its bill 
beneath it, and with a sudden quick jerk of the head pushed it off, 
when it quickly picked up the food which was thus exposed to view, 
and walked deliberately to the next shell to perform the same opera- 
tion. In several instances, when the clusters of oyster-shells or clods 
of mud were too heavy to be removed in the ordinary way, they would 
use not only the bill and head, but also the breast, pushing the object 
with all their strength, and reminding me of the labour which I have 
undergone in turning over a large turtle. Among the sea-weeds that 
had been cast on the shore, they used only the bill, tossing the garbage 
from side to side, with a dexterity extremely pleasant to behold. In 
this manner, I saw these four Turnstones examine almost every part 
of the shore along a space of from thirty to forty yards ; after which I 
drove them away, that our hunters might not kill them on their return. 
On another occasion, when in company with Mr Harris, and on 
the same island I witnessed the salve pleasing proceeding, several 
