. Feathered game of the Northeast . PLOVER. ROCK PLOVER. (Arenaria morinella.) Where tlie sea beaches are not too thickly-populated with human visitors the Turnstonesare quite common during the summer and earlyfall, from the middle of July to the middle ofSeptember. These Chicken Plovers, as theshore-dweller has named them, are most inter-esting little birds, scurrying along the beach,putting their stout little beaks under the peb-bles to turn them over so as to expose to viewthe myriad wrigglers dwelling beneaththem; it is even said that they will drive theirbeaks through the arm
. Feathered game of the Northeast . PLOVER. ROCK PLOVER. (Arenaria morinella.) Where tlie sea beaches are not too thickly-populated with human visitors the Turnstonesare quite common during the summer and earlyfall, from the middle of July to the middle ofSeptember. These Chicken Plovers, as theshore-dweller has named them, are most inter-esting little birds, scurrying along the beach,putting their stout little beaks under the peb-bles to turn them over so as to expose to viewthe myriad wrigglers dwelling beneaththem; it is even said that they will drive theirbeaks through the armor of the less thoroughlyprotected shellfish, such as the sea urchins,and the like. They handle quite a pebble whenthey set to work upon it, putting the bill be-neath and turning it with a sudden jerk of theirstout little necks, or when this will not do it,by settling back upon their legs and suddenlystraightening them at same time with the ef-fort of the head and neck, or even pushingagainst it, man-fashion, with their breasts. In. CDZ O HZ THE TURNSTONE 95 the air the Turnstones are very pretty birds,bearing a strong resemblance to the beetle-head when on the wing, except when they alter-nate scaling and swift wing beats as is theirhabit. When flying they have a curious chat-tering conversational note, almost like thatof the English sparrow. They are said to swimwell and to make nothing of alighting uponthe water from their flights. Have never seenthem do so but do not doubt their do not gather into large flocks save dur-ing their migrations, at ordinary times beingfound in bunches ranging in number from twoor three to a dozen birds. The Turnstone is a dweller in almost everycorner of the world. He is found along bothcoasts of our continent, well up into the northin summer,—on the Pacific coast to Alaska, onthe Atlantic shores certainly to Labrador andprobably well beyond, all along the Arctic the winter months they leave us for themilder breezes an
Size: 1254px × 1994px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., boo, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectgameandgamebirds
