The habit is not more singular than the species, which
belongs to a genus containing only one other member, and
is remarkable for the beauty and variety of its plumage.
It inhabits the sea-shore, and at times visits the margins of
lakes and large rivers, Occasion ally associating with some of
the smaller Plovers, and feeds on the smaller Crustacea, and
the soft-bodied animals inhabiting thin shells, turning over
stones, and searching among seâ-wéM for its food jgfeence
its appropriate Norfolk name of | Tangle-picker \ , Tt is observed
to dwell longer in one place, if not disturbed, than the
Plovers, and utters a loud twittering note when on the Wing.
By the latter part of July young birds make their appearance,
but thé bulk of thé migrants from the north do not
arrive until August. On the east coasts of England Comparatively
few remain after thé autumn, bût on the southern
coasts, and especially in the mild climate of the west, many
stay throughout the winter. By the middle Of May the
return 'migration has begun, and birds in breeding-plumage
have.; frequently been observed on our coasts, sometimes in
pairs, all through the summer ; nevertheless the breeding of
this species in the British Islands, although several times
suspected, does not appear to be as yet fully proved. |Js),n
the 28th May, 1861, a pair rose from a most suitable
locality at Lundy Island, and the male unfortunately fell
to a hasty shot from thé EditÓFs- companion. Mr. T, E.
Buckley has seen the bird on the „west CQ.ast,.,of JTairis jin
July, and believes that it breeds there; the late „Dr. S&xby
saw a Turnstone "On Uinsty the most northern of the
Shetlands, on 16th June,-and found three eggs which he
supposed to belong ta.it, and in July,=1879, the Editor saw
a pair on an islet in__the same neighbourhood -; but as. yet
no authenticated eggs seem to be known from any part of
the United Kingdom.* In Scotland the ;species: is‘4ûore
* Mr. Hating has one of eggs stated in'GouM’-s ‘ Birds of Great Britain ’
to have been taken on the Fame Islands, and attributed tód^a^pbird ; "Bnf/in
the Editor’s opinion, it resembles the egg of the Purple Sandpiper more than that
of the Turnstone, and Mr. Hancock is Wot cognisant of either Species having
abundant than in England, and the same may be said of
Ireland, especially the deeply indented and sea-weed covered
coast of the west.
This cosmopolitan species breeds Greenland and in
Iceland, and is supposed to do so in the Faeroes; but its
best known and most accessible breeding-haunts are on the
coasts and islands of Scandinavia. It. h#S occurred on
Spitsbergen and in,Novaya Zemlya, and appears to be found
in summer along the northern coast of both European and
Asiatic Siberia as far as Behring’s Strajts. Qn migration,
it is found on all the coasts and islands of -Europe, and has
been obtained in such inland districts as Savoy,. Bohemia,
and Central Russia; it crashes the great Asiatic ranges on
its way from Siberia -to India, where a small nnmber winter;
it occurs in Japan, and it visits the coast of China during
the cold season. Southwards it is found ranging throughout
Malaysia, down to the south of Australia, Tasmania, and
New Zealand; | t has occurred in many of the islands of
Polynesia; and.* along the west; coast of Sputh America,
from the Straits of Magellan t.q Mexico. 1 Between the latter
and Alaska this ,species is represented by Strimfas'mtono:
cepkalus, in which the dark plumage is unrelieved by russet.
On the east coast of America it is found from the Arctic
Regions in summerjjfco the Antilles and Guiana in wipter ; in
the Atlantic islands; and down both coasts of Africa, and
qh|the great inland lake Nyassa; also in Madagascar. It
wou^d, indeed, be easier| to say where it has npt occurred.
In the Azores, Mr. Godman shot examples in breedings
plumage at Flores in June, and believes that the species
breeds’there-; and Dr. Bolle w&f the same opinion with
regard to some of the Canary Islands :. Mr, Layard also
thinks that it breeds near Cape Town, but as yet no eggs
are known-jo have been obtained in the Old World south 0$
the shores ofthe Baltic.
The late-Mr.;Hewitson has given the .fpllowmg? description
of his experiences when on the coast of Norway :-f,;
. We had yisited.numerous islands with little,encouragement,
and were about to land upon a flat rock, bare except.