THE TURN-STONES. 
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north in May. The return journey lasts from the end of July 
to the end of September. 
Range outside the British Islands. — ^The Turn-stone may be re- 
garded as a circum-polar bird, for it breeds in the high north 
of both hemispheres, and wanders south in winter to the Cape 
of Good Hope, India and Ceylon, Australia, and the extreme 
south of South America. It has even been supposed to nest 
in some of its southern homes, as birds have been procured in 
full breeding plumage in the Azores, and in other places in 
May, but these are probably non-breeding birds, which remain 
in their southern homes during the whole of the summer. It 
nests regularly in Denmark and in Scandinavia, and on the 
Baltic coasts. 
Hatita. — This handsome little Plover is by no means shy, 
and, in autumn, the young birds may be approached within easy 
distance of observation. I have often seen them at this latter 
period of the year resting, at full tide, on the green herbage 
just beyond the high-water mark in some of our southern 
harbours. When sitting on the shingle, however, their 
plumage so completely harmonises with the surrounding stones 
that they are not discovered until they fly up, with a sharp 
note. It is essentially a bird of the sea-coasts, and is very 
seldom seen inland, although it is said to move across country 
in its migrations. Its name of Turn-stone is derived from its 
curious habit of turning over pebbles to look for the insects 
underneath, and Colonel Feilden has in his possession a slab of 
stone several inches square which he saw turned over by one 
of these birds. Edward, the Banffshire naturalist, noticed 
three of them engaged upon moving the body of a fish, which, 
as they could not overturn it, they undermined, and were 
then enabled to reach the insects which were underneath 
the body. Mr. E. W. Nelson also says that the species feeds 
upon the larvae of the insects which are found upon the tens 
of thousands of seal carcases strewn about the Seal Islands 
in N.W. America. The call-note of the Turn-stone, writes 
Mr. Seebohm, is a clear, loud, shrill whistle, bearing some re- 
semblance to the call-notes of the Golden and Grey Plovers, 
which may be represented by the syllable ko or keet. It has 
also a double note, which may be represented by the syllable 
N 2 
