Nests and Eggs of Familiar British Birds Part 7

FIGURE 36.

This is a very remarkable bird with regard to personal appearance, having a variegated dress of black, white, and brownish red, with little fading or running off into the other, so that the colours are strongly contrasted; it has a tolerably heavy body, a strong stout bill of moderate length, and longish thick legs, which are of a dull orange colour, the toes terminating in strong black claws, very useful in what appears to be the chief occupation of the bird, namely, turning up the stones and pieces of rock on the sh.o.r.e, in search of the sea-worms and small sh.e.l.l-fish which lurk beneath; farther inland it searches in the same way for beetles and other insects; hence its common name Turnstone, and Collared Turnstone, from the distinct white mark which pa.s.ses over the neck and down each side of the breast, until it nearly meets beneath. In the Hebrides we find that it is called a Sandpiper, because it closely resembles, in habits and general conformation, some of the birds which belong to the _Tringa_, or Sandpiper genus, of which there are several species in this country.

The most commonly used scientific name of the Turnstone is _Strepsilas interpres_--rather a difficult name to translate; the first term appears to come from two Greek roots, _Strepho_--to turn, and _laas_--a stone; the second term may mean an interpreter, and is applied to the bird, as Morris conjectures, from its habit of careful investigation, and turning over, as a translator does the leaves of a book. So we may set down our feathered friend, who goes poking and prying into holes and turning up stones, as one who likes to see the bottom of things. It is well for my readers to have the like inclination, to possess an inquiring mind, so that they pursue their investigations with a due regard to the wishes and interests of others, and are not merely curious and Paul Pryish, if we may use the term. The secrets of nature cannot be too closely and perseveringly investigated, and in her domains much information may often be gained by becoming a Turnstone.

This bird is one of our winter visitants, arriving, says Morris, at the end of August; the Scottish naturalist, Macgillivray, we see, says, "visiting our coasts at the end of October;" perhaps he refers more particularly to Scotland and the northern parts of the island; both agree in a.s.signing May as the latest date of departure.

The Turnstones frequent rocky and gravelly places more than the smooth level sands. They are active energetic birds, running swiftly, and flying rapidly with regular well-timed beats of the wings, sometimes in a direct course, but oftener in curves. They have a clear twittering or whistling cry, uttered frequently while flying. Their time of breeding is about the middle of June, when they are found on the coast of Norway and other northern countries of Europe. They lay their eggs on the sandy and rocky sh.o.r.es, sometimes amid the stunted herbage, but often in a slight hollow, natural or sc.r.a.ped out for the purpose, and lined with a few blades of gra.s.s. The eggs are four in number, of a reddish olive cast, spotted with dark grey, greenish brown, and black, some very thickly, others not so much so. They are smaller than the eggs of the Peewit, and more rounded in shape. Hewitson has remarked that those which he met with in Norway had a beautiful purple or crimson tinge.

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