TURNSTONE. 
3*27 
black, enclosing a spot of white. Crown, white, streaked 
with black ; breast, black, from whence it turns up half across 
the neck ; behind the eye, a spot of black ; upper part of the 
neck, white, running down and skirting the black breast as 
far as the shoulder ; upper part of the back, black, divided by 
a strip of bright ferruginous ; scapulars, black, glossed with 
greenish, and interspersed with rusty red ; whole back below 
this, pure white, but hid by the scapulars ; rump, black ; tail- 
coverts, white ; tail, rounded, white at the base half, thence 
black to the extremity ; belly and vent, white ; wings, dark 
dusky, crossed by two bands of white ; lower half of the lesser 
coverts, ferruginous ; legs and feet, a bright vermilion, or red 
lead ; hind toe, standing inwards, and all of them edged with 
a thick warty membrane. The male and female are alike 
variable ; and when in perfect plumage nearly resemble each 
other. 
Bewick, in his History of British Birds , has figured and 
described what he considers to be two species of Turnstone ; 
one of which, he says, is chiefly confined to the southern, and 
the other to the northern parts of Great Britain. The diffe- 
rence, however, between these two appears to be no greater 
than commonly occurs among individuals of the same flock, 
and evidently of the same species, in this country. As several 
years probably elapse before these birds arrive at their com- 
plete state of plumage, many varieties must necessarily appear, 
according to the different ages of the individuals. 
