TURNSTONE. 933 



break them, as I afterwards ascertained by walking to the spot. While on 

 the Florida coast, near Cape Sable, I shot one in the month of May, that 

 had its stomach filled with those beautiful shells, which, on account of their 

 resemblance to grains of rice, are commonly named rice-shells. 



While this species remains in the United States, although its residence is 

 protracted to many months, very few individuals are met with in as com- 

 plete plumage as the one represented in my plate with the wings fully 

 extended; for out of a vast number of specimens procured from the begin- 

 ning of March to the end of May, or from August to May, I have scarcely 

 found two to correspond precisely in their markings. For this reason, no 

 doubt exists in my mind that this species, as well as the Knot and several 

 others, loses its rich summer plumage soon after the breeding season, when 

 the oldest become scarcely distinguishable from the young. In the spring 

 months, however, I have observed that they gradually improve in beauty, 

 and acquire full-coloured feathers in patches on the upper and lower surfaces 

 of the body, in the same manner as the Knot, the Red-breasted Snipe, the 

 Godwits, and several other species. According to Mr. Hewitson, the eggs 

 are four in number, rather suddenly pointed towards the smaller end, gene- 

 rally an inch and four and a half eighths in length, an inch and one and a 

 half eighths in their greatest breadth, their ground-colour pale yellowish- 

 green, marked with irregular patches and streaks of brownish-red, and a few 

 lines of black. 



My drawing of the Turnstones represented in the plate was made at 

 Philadelphia, in the end of May 1824; and the beautiful specimen exhibited 

 in the act of flying, I procured near Camden, while in the agreeable company 

 of my talented friend Lesueur, who, alas! is now no more. 



I have not observed any remarkable difference in the plumage of the sexes 

 at any season of the year. The males I have generally found to be some- 

 what larger than the females, which, as is well known, is not the case in the 

 Tringa family. 



My worthy friend, Dr. Bachman, once had a bird of this species alive. 

 It had recovered from a slight wound in the wing, when he presented it to a 

 lady, a friend of his and mine, who fed it on boiled rice, and bread soaked in 

 milk, of both of which it was very fond. It continued in a state of captivity 

 upwards of a year, but was at last killed by accident. It had become per- 

 fectly gentle, would eat from the hand of its kind mistress, frequently 

 bathed in a basin placed near it for the purpose, and never attempted to 

 escape, although left quite at liberty to do so. 



Turnstone, Tringa Interpres, Wils. Amer. Orn., vol. vii. p. 32. 



Strepsilas Interpres, Bonap. Syn. ; p. 299. 



Strepsilas Interpres, Turnstone, Swains, and Rich. F. Bor. Amer., vol. ii. p. 371. 



