118 
PR7EC0CIAL GRALLATORES — LIMICOLA1. 
they wandered along the beach. They were the noisiest of all the feathered tribe fre- 
quenting the island, and their harsh and vociferous cries were heard all the day long. 
After some search he succeeded in finding two nests. One, containing a single fresh- 
laid egg, was found, June 6, on the extreme point of a high cliff jutting over the sea; 
the second, obtained a few days later, was on a small islet. The nests were rude 
affairs, being slight hollows in the pebbly detritus, with bits of stone brought from 
elsewhere. There was no grass or any lining softer than the stones themselves. 
In one case the two eggs had been incubated, and were probably all that would 
have been laid. The eggs were undistinguisliable from those of the palliatus. Their 
ground-color was a faint grayish drab, profusely marked with irregular blotches of 
black. They measured 2.27 by 1.59, 2.29 by 1.48, and 2.18 by 1.52 inches. 
Eggs of this species obtained by Mr. Hepburn on Puget Sound average 2.17 by 
1.55 inches. Their ground-color is a light olivaceous drab, spotted with rounded 
markings distributed in a general, but scattered, manner over the entire egg. These 
spots are of a dark bistre, almost black ; and these eggs differ greatly from those of 
the palliatus. From the different aspects presented by the eggs procured by Mr. 
Hepburn and Mr. Henshaw, it would seem that the eggs of this species must vary, 
and that while some closely resemble those of the eastern species, others are quite 
different. 
Family STPtEPSILIDiE. — The Turnstones. 
Strepsilince, “ G. R. Gray, 1840.” 
Strepsilidce, Ridgw. Bull. Ills. State Laborat. Nat. Hist. no. 4, May, 1881, p. 194. 
Cinclinoc, “ G. R. Gray, 1841 Hand! III. 1871, 22. 
Char. Rather small, Plover-like birds, differing from the true Plovers ( Char a - 
clriidcc) chiefly in the more robust feet, without trace of web between the toes, 
the well-developed hind toe, and the strong claws ; the toes with a lateral mar- 
gin, forming a broad flat under surface (especially in Aphriza ) ; the bill of one 
genus ( Strepsilas ) peculiar. The two genera may be distinguished by the following 
characters : — 
Strepsilas. Bill compressed and pointed terminally, somewhat upturned at the end, the culmen 
straight or even slightly concave ; tarsus not longer than the bill ; tail slightly rounded. 
Aphriza. Bill slightly swollen terminally, the terminal portion of the culmen decidedly convex ; 
tarsus decidedly longer than the bill ; tail slightly emarginated. 
Genus STREPSILAS, Illiger. 
Morinella, Meyer & Wolf, Taschb. Vog. Deutschl. II. 1810, 383 (type, Tringa interpres, Linn.). 
Strepsilas, Illiger, Prodromus, 1811 (same type). 
Char. Form robust, the head small, neck short, wings long and pointed, feet stout. Bill 
straight along the culmen (or else slightly concave above), somewhat upturned terminally, com- 
pressed toward the end and pointed. Wings reaching beyond the tail, the first primary longest, 
the tertials not reaching to end of the primaries. Tail slightly rounded. Tarsus decidedly longer 
than the middle toe, the latter shorter than the bill. 
The two species of this genus, both of which are American (one of them exclusively so), may 
be distinguished as follows : — 
