234 
TURNSTONE. 
Turnstone or Sea Dotterel, Nutt. Man., vol. ii. p. 30. 
Turnstone, Strepsilas Inter pres, Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. iv. p. 31. 
Male, 9, 181. 
Not uncommon along the shores of the Southern States during winter, 
though the greater number remove much farther south. Breeds in high 
northern latitudes, Hudson’s Bay, and shores of Arctic Seas. Never in the 
interior. 
Adult Male in summer. 
Bill a little shorter than the head, rather stout, compressed, tapering, 
straightish, being recurvate in a slight degree. Upper mandible with the 
dorsal line very slightly concave, the nasal groove extending to the middle, 
the sides beyond it sloping, the tip depressed and blunted. Nostrils sub- 
basal, linear-oblong, pervious. Lower mandible with the angle short, the 
dorsal line ascending and slightly convex, the sides convex, the edges sharp, 
the tip depressed and blunted. 
Head small, ovate ; eyes of moderate size. Neck of ordinary length. 
Body rather full. Feet of moderate length, stout ; tibia bare at the lower 
part, and covered with reticulated scales ; tarsus roundish, with numerous 
broad anterior scutella ; toes four, the first very small, and placed higher 
than the rest ; the anterior toes free to the base, distinctly margined on 
both edges, the inner toe a little shorter than the outer, the third or middle 
toe considerably longer ; claws rather small, arcuate, compressed, blunted. 
Plumage full, soft, rather dense, and glossy ; feathers on the hind neck 
blended, and rather narrow, on the other parts ovate. Wings long, pointed, 
of moderate breadth ; primaries with strong shafts, rather broad, narrowed 
towards the end, the first longest, the rest rapidly decreasing ; the outer 
secondaries incurved, obliquely rounded ; inner elongated, one of them 
extending to half an inch of the tip of the longest primary, when the wing 
is closed. Tail rather short, slightly rounded, of twelve moderately broad, 
rounded feathers. 
Bill black. Iris hazel. Feet deep orange-red, claws black. Plumage 
variegated with white, black, brown, and red. Upper parts of the head and 
nape streaked with black and reddish-white ; abroad band of white crosses 
the forehead, passes over the eyes, and down the sides of the neck, the hind 
part of which is reddish-white, faintly mottled with dusky ; a frontal -band 
of black curves downwards before the eye, enclosing a white patch on the 
lore, and meeting another black band glossed with blue, which proceeds 
down the neck, from the base of the lower mandible, enlarging behind the 
ear, covering the whole anterior part of the neck, and passing along the 
shoulder over the scapulars ; the throat, hind part of the back, the outer 
