558 TURNSTONE. 
along the northern coast of Siberia as far as Bering Strait. During 
the cold season it ranges over Asia, and down to Australia, 
Tasmania, New Zealand, Polynesia, South America and the African 
region. There has been some reason for believing that the Turn- 
stone might breed in the Canaries and Azores, while Mr. Tait says 
that in Portugal it is usually seen near the mouth of the Douro 
“from the beginning of April till the middle of September,” adding 
that in the summer of 1869 a young bird was brought to him alive 
and kept in a cage for many months. No eggs have, however, been 
taken south of the Baltic. On migration the Turnstone is found 
along the entire coast line of Europe and on many inland waters, 
and it is generally distributed in North America, breeding in the 
Arctic regions. 
The nest, close to high-water mark, is often a shallow depression 
lined with a few dry leaves and bents, under the shelter of bushes or 
scanty herbage on the coasts of the Northern seas or upon ledges of 
rock on their islets ; but in Iceland, Kolguev and Novaya Zemlya 
the Rev. H. H. Slater found that fells at some distance from 
the sea were preferred. The eggs, 4 in number, are very distinct 
from those of any other ‘species, being of a greenish-grey colour, 
spotted and streaked somewhat spirally with bluish-ash and brown : 
measurements 1°6 by 1°1 in. Incubation, shared by both sexes, 
takes place about the middle of June, only one brood being reared 
in the season. The Turnstone feeds chiefly on small crustaceans 
and molluscs, in search of which it may be seen—sometimes in 
parties—turning over stones or examining sea-weed, whence its 
Norfolk name of ‘‘ Tangle-picker.” It is easily tamed, and Mr. Tait 
has given an interesting account of the manner in which his captive 
bird called down a Whimbrel with which it afterwards lived (Ibis, 
1887, p. 387). The note is a clear whistle, but a loud twittering is 
often uttered by the bird when on the wing. 
In spring, as shown in the illustration, the adult male has the 
head, neck, upper breast and shoulders variegated with black and 
white ; mantle streaked with chestnut and black ; rump conspicuously 
white, followed by a dark brown patch on the coverts, most of the 
tail-feathers being of the same colour; under parts white; legs and 
feet orange-red, hind-toe turning inwards and not backwards. 
Length gin. ; wing 6 in. The female is a trifle larger, but slightly 
duller in colour, and in autumn the chestnut tint is much reduced 
in both sexes. The young bird has the forehead and cheeks brown, 
collar dark umber, merely a buffish tint to the margins of the wing- 
coverts and secondaries, feathers of the back tipped with dull white. 
