. Natural history. Zoology. 272 AVES—ORDER Fig. 33 —The Common Turn-Stone (Armaria interpres). very distinct one. Tliere is no dertral swelling to the end of the bill, and the metatarsus is transversely sealed in front, but reticulated TJie Turn-stones, behind, while there is no connecting web between the toes, —Sub-family as in the oyster-catchers. Two species of turn-stone are Arenariiiim. known. The common turn-stone {A. interpres) is one of the most cosmopolitan of birds, nesting in the Arctic regions of both hemispheres, and ranging south almost as far as land extends. T
. Natural history. Zoology. 272 AVES—ORDER Fig. 33 —The Common Turn-Stone (Armaria interpres). very distinct one. Tliere is no dertral swelling to the end of the bill, and the metatarsus is transversely sealed in front, but reticulated TJie Turn-stones, behind, while there is no connecting web between the toes, —Sub-family as in the oyster-catchers. Two species of turn-stone are Arenariiiim. known. The common turn-stone {A. interpres) is one of the most cosmopolitan of birds, nesting in the Arctic regions of both hemispheres, and ranging south almost as far as land extends. The male is a very handsome bird in the nesting plumage, though the females and young birds are not so brightly coloured. It gains its name of "turn-stone" from its habit of turning over stones, often of considerable size, in order to reach the insects underneath. A second species is found in Western North America, the black turn-stone {A. melanocephala). These are curious birds, peculiar to the Old World, whore they are found from South- The Pratincoles, ern Europe and Sub-order Central Asia to Olareolce. China, south to India and Aus- tralia. They have all long wings and a swallow-like flight, and they nest in companies, laying eggs which are unlike those of plovers or snipes, being so thickly scribbled over that the ground-colour is almost invisible. One of them, the common pratincole (Glareola pratincola), has occurred in England on a few occasions. The pratincoles have the claw of the middle toe pectinated, as in the coursers, from which they are distinguished by their long wings. Although allied to the plovers and pratincoles, and, like these birds, pos- sessing slit or schizorhinal nostrils, the coursers diflfer from them in having no basipterygoid pro- Tbe Coursers.— cesses, and they may —Sub-order bo differentiated from Cursorii. the former by their pec- tinated middle claw. They have both aspects of the meta- tarsus transversely scaled. Of true cour
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