THE TURNSTONE. 
105 
distinct patches, so as to render it a conspicuous object ; it 
has a sharp, moderately long, and slightly turned-up bill. 
The name by which this species is commonly known has its 
origin in the method Avhich it adopts of searching for food by 
turning over the small stones with its strong beak, to get at 
the marine insects and molluscs which lurk beneath. It is 
found chiefly on the seashore, and mar<gins of lakes and tidal 
TURNSTONE. 
rivers. It is generally distributed over the coasts of nearly 
all the known Avorld, so that Mr. Gould remarks — ^ If any 
bird may be regarded as cosmopolitan it is the Turnstone, 
for it inhabits the seashores of evefy part of the globe.' 
It visits our coasts in the end of October, remaining imtil 
the beginning of May, associating in flocks of considerable 
size, flying swiftly with regularly turned beats and often 
in semicircular curves, and running with great celerity. 
The American naturalist Audubon testifies that its common 
name is not a misnomer, stating that when on a beach on 
Galveston Island, a.< he and a sailor were carrying the 
carcase of a deer to wash in the water, they disturbed four 
Turnstones, wdiich * merely ran a little distance out of our 
course, and, on our returning, came back immediately to 
the same place; this they did four different times, and 
after we were done, they remained busily engaged in 
searching for food. None of them were more than fifteen 
