34 TURNSTONE.
eighths in their greatest breadth, their ground colour pale yellowishgreen,
marked with irregular pafcehjsg and streaks of brownish-red, and
a few line.«, of black.
My drawing of the Turnstones represented in the plate was made
at Philadelphia, in the end of May 1824; and the beautiful specimen
exhibited in the act of flying, I procured near Camden, while in the
agreoal.le company of my talented friend I,K SUIUE, who, alas ! is now
no more.
1 have nut observed any remarkable difference in the plumage of
.the sexes at any season of' the yettr. The males I have generally
found to be somewhat larger than the females, which, as is well known,
is not the case in the Tringa family.
My worthy friend, Dr BACHMAN, once -had a bird of this species
alive, It had recovered from a slight wound in the wing, when he
presented it to a lady, a friend of his and mine, who. fed it on boiled
rice, and bread soaked in milk, of both of which it was very fond. It
continued in a state of captivity upwards of a year, but was at last
killed by accident. It had become perfectly gentle, would eat from
the hand of its kind mistress, frequently bathed in a basin placed near
it for the purpose, and never attempted to escape, although left quite
at liberty to do so.
TRINGA INTERPRES, Linn- Syst. NAT. VOL I. P. 248,—Lath. IND. ORN. VOL. II. P. 738.
TRINGA MOIUNKI.I.A, Linn: SYST. NAT. VOL. I. P. 249.
TURNSTONE, TRINGA INTERPRES, WHS. AINER. ORNITH. VOL VIII ;P. 32. PI. 57. FIG. 1.
STREPSILAS COLLARIS, Tsw/m* MSB. DF.)RIN'TTI, PBIT N, P. 553,
STREPSILAS INTERVRES, Ch. Bov/ip. SYNOPSIS OF BIRDS OF THE UNITED STATES, 299.
TURNSTONE OR SEA-TIOTTEREL, NuttaU, MANUAL, VOL. II, P. 30.
Adult Male in Summer. Plate, CCCIV. Fig. 1.
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, thé sides
convex, the edges sharp, the tip depressed and blunted.
Head small, ovate ; eyes of moderate size. Neck of ordinary length.
TURNSTONE. 35
Body rather fall. 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, tod
placed higher than the rest ; the anterior toes free to. the base, distinctly
margined on both edges, the inner< toc a little shorter than the
outer, the third or middle toe considerably longer s claws rather small,
arcuate, compressed, blunted.
.: Plumage fill, soft, rather dense, and glessy ; feathers on thé 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 ; outer secondaries incurved, obliquely rounded; inner elongated,
one of them extending to half an inch of the tip of the longest
primary, when thé wing is dosed. Tail rather short, slightly rounded,
of twelvo inoderately 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.; a, broad 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 thç 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 scapulars, upper tail-coverts,
and the under parts of the body and wings, white. Anterior smaller
wing-eoverts dusky, the rest bright chestnut or brownish-orange, as are
the outer webs of the inner tertiaries; alula., primary coverts, outer
secondasy coverts and quills blackish-brown, their inner webs becoming
white towards the base ; a broad band of white extends across the
wing, including the bases of the primary quills, excepting the outer
four, and the ends of the 'secondary coverts ; the shafts of the primaries
white. Tail white, with a broad blackish-brown bar towards the end,
broader in the middle, the tips white. A dusky band crosses the rump.
Length to end of tail 9 inches, to end of wings 8§, to end of claws
10 ; extent of wings 18§ ; along the ridge 9 ^ , along the edge of lower
mandible ; wing from flexure ; tail 2j\ ; tarsus ; hind toe
c 2'