Species VIII. 
TRINGA INTERPRE3* 
TURN-STONE. 
[Plate LVII. Fig. 1.] 
Hebridal Sandpiper, Arct. Zool. p. 472, No. 382.— Le Tournepierre,Bv¥v. vn., 130. 
PL Enl. 130.— Bewick, ii., p. 119, 121.— Catesby, i., 72. 
This beautifully variegated species is common to both Europe and 
America ; consequently extends its migrations far to the north. It 
arrives from the south, on the shores of New Jersey, in April ; leaves 
them early in June ; is seen on its return to the south in October; and 
continues to be occasionally seen until the commencement of the cold 
weather, when it disappears for the season. It is rather a scarce species 
in this part of the world, f and of a solitary disposition ; seldom min- 
gling among the large flocks of other Sandpipers ; but either coursing 
the sands alone, or in company with two or three of its own species. On 
the coast of Cape May and Egg Harbor, this bird is well known by the 
name of the Horse-foot Snipe, from its living, during the months of May 
and June, almost wholly on the eggs or spawn of the great King Crab, 
called here, by the common people, the Horse-foot. This animal is the 
Monoculus polyphemus of entomologists. Its usual size is from twelve 
to fifteen inches in breadth, by two feet in length ; though sometimes it 
is found much larger. The head, or forepart, is semicircular, and con- 
vex above, covered with a thin elastic shelly case. The lower side is 
concave, where it is furnished with feet and claws resembling those of a 
crab. The posterior extremity consists of a long, hard, pointed, dagger- 
like tail, by means of which, when overset by the waves, the animal turns ' 
itself on its belly again. The male may be distinguished from the female 
by his two large claws having only a single hook each, instead of the 
forceps of the female. In the Bay of Delaware, below Egg Island, and 
in what is usually called Maurice River Cove, these creatures seem to 
have formed one of their principal settlements. The bottom of this cove 
is generally a soft mud, extremely well suited to their accommodation. 
* This bird belongs to the genus Strepsilas of Illiger ; it is the only species of the 
genus known ; and is found in almost every quarter of the world. 
f This species is now found in great abundance on the coast of New Jersey ; and 
becomes excessively fat, in the month of May. 
(352) 
