TURNSTONE. 235 



scapulars, upper tail-coverts, and the under parts of the body and wings, 

 white. Anterior smaller wing-coverts dusky, the rest bright chestnut or 

 brownish-orange, as are the outer webs of the inner tertiaries; alula, primary 

 coverts, outer secondary coverts and quills blackish-brown, their inner webs 

 becoming white towards the base; a broad band of white extends across the 

 wing, including the bases of the primary quills, excepting the outer four, 

 and the ends of the secondary coverts; the shafts of the primaries white. 

 Tail white, with a broad blackish-brown bar towards the end, broader in the 

 middle, the tips white. A dusky band crosses the rump. 



Length to end of tail 9 inches, to end of wings 8|, to end of claws 10; 

 extent of wings 1S§; along the ridge 9 T %, along the edge of lower mandible 

 •i^; wing from flexure 6^; tail 2^; tarsus {%; hind toe ff, its claw ^j 

 middle toe ||, its claw -ff. Average weight of three specimens 3| oz. 



Male in winter. 



In winter, the throat, lower parts, middle of the back, upper tail-coverts, 

 and band across the wing, are white, as in summer; the tail and quills are 

 also similarly coloured, but the inner secondaries are destitute of red, of 

 which there are no traces on the upper parts, they being of a dark greyish- 

 brown colour, the feathers tipped or margined with paler; the outer edges of 

 the outer scapulars, and some of the smaller wing-coverts, white; on the 

 sides and fore part of the neck the feathers blackish, with white shafts. 



Individuals vary much according to age and sex, as well in size as in 

 colour, scarcely two in summer plumage being found exactly similar. 



In a male bird, the tongue is -ff of an inch in length, sagittate and papil- 

 late at the base, concave above, narrow, and tapering to the point. The 

 oesophagus is 4^ inches long, inclines to the right, is rather rarrow, and 

 uniform, its diameter -ff . Proventriculus oblong, T 8 2 in length, ^ i n breadth, 

 its glandules cylindrical. Stomach oblong, \^ in length, its cuticular lining 

 very tough and hard, with broad longitudinal rugoe, its lateral muscles mode- 

 rately large. Intestine 17^ inches long, slender, varying in diameter from 

 f| to -i|; rectum 1^; cceca 1 T 8 2, y^ in diameter at the commencement, -fV 

 toward the end; cloaca globular. 



The trachea is 3\ inches long, 2f^ in breadth, contracts to j^; its lateral 

 muscles very thin; sterno-tracheal slender, a pair of tracheali-bronchial 

 muscles. The rings are very thin and unossified, 104 in number. Bronchi 

 of moderate length, with about 15 half rings. 



In a female, the oesophagus is 4^ inches long, the intestine 18. In both 

 individuals the stomach contained fragments of shells, and claws of very 

 small crabs, which were also found in the intestine, although there more 

 comminuted. 



