I 



34 TURN-STONE. 



larly well constructed for this purpose, differing from all the rest 

 of its tribe, and very much resembling in shape that of the com- 

 mon Nuthatch. We learn from Mr. Pennant that these birds in- 

 habit Hudson's Bay, Greenland, and the arctic flats of Siberia, 

 where they breed, wandering southerly in autumn. It is said 

 to build on the ground, and to lay four eggs, of an olive color 

 spotted with black, and to inhabit the isles of the Baltic during 

 summer. 



The Turn-stone flies with a loud twittering note, and runs 

 with its wings lowered; but not with the rapidity of others of its 

 tribe. It examines more completely the same spot of ground, and, 

 like some of the Woodpeckers, will remain searching in the same 

 place, tossing the stones and pebbles from side to side for a con- 

 siderable time. 



These birds vary greatly in color, scarcely two individuals 

 are to be found alike in markings. These varieties are most nu- 

 merous in autumn when the young birds are about, and are less 

 frequently met with in spring. The most perfect specimens I have 

 examined are as follows. 



Length eight inches and a half, extent seventeen inches ; bill 

 blackish horn; frontlet, space passing through the eyes, and thence 

 dropping down and joining the under mandible, black, enclosing 

 a spot of white. Crown white, streaked with black; breast black, 

 from whence it turns up half across the neck; behind the eye a 

 spot of black; upper part of the neck white, running down and 

 skirting the black breast as far as the shoulder; upper part of the 

 back black, divided by a strip of bright ferruginous ; scapulars 

 black, glossed with greenish, and interspersed with rusty red; 

 whole back below this pure white, but hid by the scapulars ; rump 

 black ; tail coverts white ; tail rounded, white at the base half, 

 thence black to the extremity; belly and vent white; wings dark 

 dusky, crossed by two bands of white; lower half of the lesser co- 

 verts ferruginous; legs and feet a bright vermilion, or red lead; 



