STREPSILAS INTERPRET 



(THE TURNSTONE.) 



Tringa interpres, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 248 (176G). 



Strepsilas interpres (Linn.), 111. Trod. p. 263 (1811) ; Gould, B. of Eur. iv. pi. 318 (1837); 

 Jerdon, Madr. Journ. 1840, xii. p! 211; Gould, B. of Austr. vi. pi. 39 (1848); Blyth, 

 Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. p. 271 (1849); Middendorff, Sibir. Reise, ii. p. 213 (1853); 

 Layard, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1854, xiv. p. 110; Jerdon, B. of Ind. iii. p. 656 

 (1864) ; Schlegel, Mus. P.-B. Cursores, p. 43 (1864) ; Finsch & Hartl. Fauna Centr.- 

 Poly. p. 197 (1867); Swinhoe, P. Z. S. 1871, p. 408 ; Holdsw. P. Z. S. 1872, p. 472 ; 

 Buller, B. of New Zeal. p. 221 (1874); Salvadori, Uccelli di Born. p. 320 (1874); 

 Dresser, B. of Eur. pt. 35, 36 (1875); Legge, Ibis, 1875, p. 401 ; Irby, B. of Gibraltar, 

 p. 163 (1875) ; Le Messurier, Str. Feath. 1875, p. 380 ; Hume, ibid. 1876, p. 464, et 

 1879, viii. (List B. of Ind.), p. 112; David & Oustalet, Ois. de la Chine, p. 433 (1877) ; 

 Feilden, Ibis, 1877, p. 405. 



Charadrius cinches, Pall. Zoogr. Rosso-As. ii. p. 148 (1831). 



Cinclus interpres (L), Layard, B. of S. Afr. p. 301 (1867); Von Heuglin, Orn. N.Ost-Afr. 

 ii. p. 1037 (1873) ; Hume, Str. Feath. 1873, p. 233, et 1874, p. 292. 



Le Coulon chaud, DAub. PL Enl. p. 856 ; Le Toume-pierre, Buffon ; Steimvdltzer, German. 

 Kotan, Ceylonese Tamils ; Kiojo-shigi, Japan ; Killing, Pelew Is. ; Pimpeng, Borneo. 



Adult male and female (Ceylon). Length 8 - to 9 - 6 inches; wing 5 - 9 to 0-4; tail 2-5 to 2-7; tarsus 0-95 to 1*05 ; 



middle toe and claw 1-0 to 1-1 ; hind toe 0-2 ; bill at front 0-8 to 0-97, to gape 1-03 to 1-07. 

 Females average larger than males ; in the above series 6 - inches is the largest male wing-dimension. 

 Iris brown ; bill black ; legs and feet light orange-red ; joints of feet dusky ; claws blackish. 



Male, breeding-plumage (Norway, loth June). Back, rump, base of tail, body beneath from the chest, together with 

 the under wing, pure white ; forehead, cheeks, sides of the neck, fore neck, chest, and lower part of the hind 

 neck jet-black — the black forehead is joined to the cheeks by a stripe passing underneath the eye ; lores, above the 

 black forehead and over the eye, the ear-coverts, chin, and centre of the throat pure white ; crown and nape 

 black, with broad white edges to the feathers, the white predominating on the nape aud hind neck, and passing in 

 a broad band on each side towards the chest ; some of the lower hind-neck feathers, most of the scapulars, and 

 the median wing-coverts cinnamon-red ; terminal portion of many of the scapular-feathers greenish black ; least 

 wing-coverts, winglet, primary-coverts, and quills blackish brown ; greater wing-coverts white, with a black patch 

 on the outer webs ; shorter primaries with a white patch near the base of the outer web ; primary-shafts whitish : 

 underlying scapulars and a tuft of feathers next them on the bend of the wing pure white ; a band of black across 

 the middle of the upper tail-coverts ; terminal portion of tail black ; outer tail-feathers white, with a black spot 

 near the tip, the adjacent feathers tipped with white. 



Male, winter (Ceylon). Black bands of the forehead, cheeks, and face, as also the black of the sides of the neck, chest, 

 and breast, duller than in the summer dress, and most of the feathers tipped with white, detracting from the 

 uniformity of these parts ; the stripe from the cheeks to the lower mandible generally incomplete ; the head and 

 hind neck brown, the feathers edged pale, and the white of the forehead above the band obscured by brownish 

 feathers ; the ear-coverts brownish ; the upper back aud scapulars brownish black, some of the tertials and scapu- 

 lars tipped with brownish rufous ; the wing-coverts brown, with whitish edgings ; the feathers of the upper part 

 of the upper tail-covert band tipped with white. 



In March, during moult, examples vary much in the white coloration of the face and head and the rufous of the back 

 and wings ; the tertials and greater wing-coverts generally show the rufous colour first. 



