SPECIES 8. TItINGA INTERPRES. 
TURN-STONE. 
[Plate LVIL — Fig. 1.] 
Hebridal Sandpiper, Jlrct. Zool.p. 4*2, JUo. 382. — Le Toiirne- 
pierre. Buff, vii, 130. PL Enl. 130. — Bewick, ii, p. 119, 121. 
— Catesby, I, 72. — Peale’s Museum, M'o. 4044. 
This beautifully variegated species is common to both Eu- 
rope 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 re- 
turn to the south in October; and continues to be occasionally 
seen until the commencement of the cold weather, when it dis- 
appears for the season. It is rather a scarce species in this part 
of the world, t and of a solitary disposition; seldom mingling 
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-Harbour, 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 se- 
micircular, and convex 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 
* This bird belongs to the Genas Slrepsilas of Illiger; it is the only species 
of the genus known; and is found in almost every quarter of tlie world. 
t This species is now found in great abundance on the coast of New Jer- 
sey; and becomes excessively fat, in the month of May. 
VOL. III. — U 
