THE TURNSTONE AT ITS TRADE 43 



family of mudlarks need noticing. The Turnstone 

 (Sirefsilas interpres), well known on all coasts in 

 the winter, is a thick-set little bird with a plain, 

 short, straight, hard beak, in which the only notice- 

 able point is the very straight profile. It is a beak 

 which at first sight seems orJy suitable for ordinary 

 pecking, and is often used for this, but the bird 

 derives its name from the unusual habit of turning 

 over "stones and other objects in search of the 

 creatures which shelter beneath them. Mr, Barnby 

 Smith has recorded in the Avicultural Magazine 

 his experiences with two captive birds of this species ; 

 these he found could turn over a weight of as 

 much as half a pound, a big feat of strength for a 

 bird not larger than a Song-Thrush, and Edwards, 

 the well-known cobbler-naturalist- of Banffshire, 

 saw three combine to try to upset a dead cod-fish 

 which was too heavy for one to manage alone. 



An opposite case to that of this widely-ranging 

 and versatile bird is found in the extraordinary 

 little Wry-billed Plover of New Zealand {Ana- 

 rhymhus frontalis), which is unique among birds in 

 having its bill bent to the right side, an adaptation, 

 it is said, to a habit of searching for food around 

 stones, and always running in one direction ; it 

 is well figured, and its peculiarities described in 

 the second edition of Buller's " Birds of New 

 Zealand." 



Then, among the very small Sandpipers known 

 as Stints, we get the unique Spoon-billed Stint 

 {Enrfnorhyncbus fygmaus) of Eastern Asia, a rare 



