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The Turnstone is certainly one of our most widely distributed and cosmopolitan birds, being met 

 with in almost every part of the world. 



In Great Britain it is common during the two seasons of migration, and many remain in 

 some parts of our coast throughout the winter ; but it has not with certainty been ascertained 

 to breed in any portion of the United Kingdom, though I think it not improbable that it does 

 remain to nest in the northern portions of Scotland or on the islands. In the spring and autumn 

 it is tolerably numerous on our east and south coasts, more especially on the latter. Referring 

 to its occurrences on the coast of Norfolk, Mr. Stevenson writes (B. of Norf. ii. p. 113) as 

 follows : — " This cosmopolitan species visits us regularly, though not very numerously, in spring 

 and autumn, and, except during extremely severe weather, some few may be met with throughout 

 the winter, with stragglers, at times, in every month of the year. By the end of July or beginning 

 of August small family groups make their appearance on Breydon and other parts of the coast, 

 where they consort with Sanderlings, Dunlins, and Ringed Plovers ; and, considering the lateness 

 of their stay with us in spring, their return in so short a time with young well able to accom- 

 pany their parents is a fact of special interest in studying the habits of these migratory tribes. 

 At Blakeney, a favourable point of the coast for this species, where, from its habit of turning 

 over sea-weeds and other marine substances in search of food, it is known by the appropriate 

 name of ' Tangle-picker. ' Mr. Dowell has observed small flocks of seven or eight in the harbour 

 as early as the 20th and 29th of July; and on the 30th of July, 1852, he noticed several families 

 in the ' narrows,' apparently just arrived, mingling with small parties of Sanderlings and Dunlins. 

 By the middle of September he has known them to arrive more thickly ; and on one occasion, on 

 the 2nd of October, he saw a flock of about fifteen near the ' freshes.' On the 12th of August, 

 1865, a young bird of the year was killed on Cromer beach ; on the 24th of October, 1867, 

 Mr. J. E. Harting shot a solitary specimen on Breydon; and on the 13th of November of the 

 same year two females were killed at Blakeney ; whilst my own and Mr. Dowell's notes supply 

 instances of their appearance both at Blakeney and on the shores of the Wash in the months of 

 January and February. At Yarmouth, Mr. Frere tells me, they are rarely, if ever, seen in 

 winter. Their spring migration takes place about the second week in May ; and between the 

 12th and 20th of that month, according to the season, small flocks make their appearance on 

 Breydon, as well as on the beach at Yarmouth and other suitable localities ; and these, like the 

 Knots, Godwits, and Grey Plover that arrive at the same time, are for the most part in full 

 nuptial plumage, resting only for a day or so, and then passing on expeditiously to their more 

 northern breeding-grounds." 



In the south I have frequently observed it in various parts of the coasts of Kent and Sussex 

 during the late autumn, and have had numbers of specimens from Pagham Harbour. It is met 

 with in the Channel Islands ; and Mr. Cecil Smith says, " in Guernsey it seems to make its 

 appearance in about the same numbers and about the same time as on our coast. I have seen 

 the old birds with their young there in July, and shot a very finely plumaged old bird there 

 in that month ; but from the middle of August to November they appear more common, and 

 I have shot them in November in various states of change of plumage." On the west coast it 

 is quite as numerous as on the eastern side or south coast ; and in Somersetshire, Mr. Cecil 

 Smith informs me, it is "a rather numerous autumnal visitant to the coast; many of the 



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