72 
WADING BIRDS. 
progress in America is in all probability continued as far as the 
tropics, since their race even extends itself into the other hemi- 
sphere. Buffon, in fact, figures a specimen of the young bird 
from Cayenne. In New Jersey, according to Wilson, these 
birds arrive in the month of April, and there linger until June, 
very soon after which they are seen at their breeding-quarters 
on the shores of Hudson Bay and along the desolate strand of 
the .Arctic Sea, where they have been met with by the northern 
navigators as far as the 75 th parallel. They already begin to 
depart from these remote boreal regions in August, in which 
month, and even towards the close of July, I have seen young 
birds for sale in the market of Boston. They visit the shores 
of Great Britain also about the same time, arriving thence 
probably from the Arctic shores of Siberia. Five or six weeks 
later they are obseiwed to visit the borders of the Delaware, 
and proceed onward to the South as the weather increases in 
coldness. The most southern summer residence of these birds 
known, if Mr. Flemming be correct, is the Scottish isles of Zet- 
land. They are also said to inhabit the isles of the Baltic 
during summer. In a mere depression of the sand or gravel, 
along the sea-coast, they are said to drop their eggs, which are 
four in number, and according to Mr. Hutchins are of an 
olive green spotted with blackish brown. 
This bird is naturally of a wild and solitary disposition, 
coursing along the shore by pairs or in small families which 
have been bred together. In the months of May and June, in 
New Jersey, they almost wholly feed upon the spawn of the 
king-crab, or horse-foot {^Monoculus polyphemus, Lin.), which 
affords them and other animals an abundant and almost inex- 
haustible supply. 
The I’urnstone, while flying, often utters a loud twittering 
note, and runs at times with its wings lowered, but is less swift 
in its movements than most of the Sandpipers, and more 
patient and intent in obtaining its fare. Like the Wood- 
peckers, it is content to search over the same place for a con- 
siderable length of time ; the mechanism of its bill seems well 
provided for this purpose, and it is often seen in this way 
