LIII. 

 STREPSILAS COLLARIS. (temm.) 



Turnstone. 



I have never yet heard of an instance of the Turnstone 

 breeding upon the British islands, although led to expect it, 

 from having at various times seen several of the birds upon 

 the Northumberland coast, and upon the Shetland islands 

 during the summer months ; these are, however, usually in 

 small flocks, and very probably yet immature. It was, there- 

 fore, with peculiar pleasure that I discovered its retreat upon 

 the coast of Norway, during a bird-nesting excursion made 

 for the purpose of adding rarities to the present work. 



We had visited numerous islands with little encourage- 

 ment, and were about to land upon a flat rock, bare except 

 where here and there grew tufts of grass, or stunted juniper 

 clinging to its surface, when our attention was attracted by 

 the singular cry of a Turnstone, which, in its eager watch 

 had seen our approach, and perched itself upon an eminence 

 of the rock, assuring us, by its querulous, oft-repeated note, 

 and anxious motions that its nest was there ; we remained 

 in the boat a short time until we had watched it behind a 

 tuft of grass, near which, after a minute seai'ch, we succeeded 

 in finding the nest, in a situation in which I should never 

 have expected to meet witli a bird of this class breeding ; it 

 was placed against a ledge of the rock, and consisted of no- 

 thing more than the dropping leaves of the juniper bush, un- 

 der a creeping brandi of which the eggs, four in number, 

 were snugly concealed, and admirably sheltered from the 

 many storms by which these bleak and exposed rocks are 

 visited, allowing just sufficient room for the bird to cover 

 them. We afterwards found several more nests with little 

 difficulty, although requiring a very close search. In sailing 



