SURF BIRDS AND TURNSTONES 



(Family Aphri^idce) 



Turnstone 



(Arenaria interpres) 



Called fl/j^.-— BRANT BIRD ; CALICO BACK ; CHECKERED 

 SNIPE ; HORSEFOOT SNIPE ; HEART BIRD ; CHICKEN 

 PLOVER ; RED-LEGGED PLOVER 



Length — 8.50 to 9.50 inches. A little smaller than a robin. 



Male and Female — In summer: Upper parts strangely variegated 

 and patched with chestnut, black, brown, and white ; base of 

 tail white, the tail feathers banded with black and tipped 

 with white; white band on wings; beneath, including wing 

 linings, white; the throat and breast jet black divided by a 

 white space. Black, short bill tapers to an acute tip, very 

 slightly recurved; legs orange red; the small hind toe turns 

 inward. The female has less chestnut and more plain brown 

 on her upper parts, and the black lacks the lustre of jet. 

 In winter: Upper parts blackish blotched with gray and brown 

 or ashy brown, and lacking the chestnut feathers ; the breast 

 markings more restricted. 



Range — Nearly cosmopolitan; nests in Arctic latitudes and in the 

 Western hemisphere; migrates to South America so far as 

 Patagonia. 



Season — Irregular, transient visitor ; April, May ; August, Septem- 

 ber, or later. 



With a bill curiously like a writing pen, this well named 

 wader turns over pebbles, clods of mud, shells, and seaweed on 

 the beaches more commonly about the foot of cliffs and in stony 

 coves than on long, sandy stretches, ever looking for the small 

 marine creatures that satisfy its appetite, particularly for the eggs 

 of the horsefoot or king crab {Limulus polyphemus), its favorite 

 dainty. Often not only the head and bill must be used to push over 

 a stone, but the breast assists too ; ordinarily, however, the bird 



249 



