The Bird Book/Surf Birds and Turnstones

SURF BIRDS AND TURNSTONES. Family APHRIZHXE

282. SURF BIRD. Aphriza virgata.

This species, which is found on the Pacific coast from Alaska to Chili, seems to be the connecting link between the plovers and the Turnstones, having the habits of the latter combined with the bill of the former. Its nest and eggs are not known to have been yet discovered.

Creamy.

Turnstone.

283. TURNSTONE. Arenaria interpres.

Range. The distribution of this species, which is grayer above than the following, is supposed to be confined, in America, to the extreme north from Greenland to Alaska. Its habits and eggs are precisely like the next.

283a. RUDDY TURNSTONE. Arenaria interpres morinella.

Range. Breeds in the Arctic regions, and migrates through all parts of the United States, south to the southern parts of South America. This species has the upperparts variegated with reddish brown, black and white; the underparts are pure white, except for a black patch on the throat, branching upward to the eye and back to the sides of the breast. It has a peculiar, slightly up-turned bill, which is used, as their name implies, for turning over pebbles and stones in their search for food. They nest commonly in northern Labrador, about Hudson Bay and in Alaska, laying their eggs in scantily lined hollows on the ground, near water. The eggs are very peculiar and beautiful, having a light grayish or cream color ground, peculiarly marbled with many shades of brown and lilac. Size 1.65 x 1.10. Data. Mackenzie River, Arctic America, June 28, 1900. Four eggs in a grass lined depression in the sand.

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THE BIRD BOOK

284. BLACK TURNSTONE. Arenaria melanocephala.

Grayish.

Range. Pacific coast of North America, breeding from British Columbia northward, and wintering south to Lower California.

This species, which has the form and habits of the preceding, is blackish above and on the breast; the rump and the base of the tail are white, being separated from each other by the black tail coverts. Their nesting habits are in no wise different from those of the common turnstone. The eggs are similar, but the markings are not so strikingly arranged. Size 1.60 x 1.10. Data. Kutlik, Alaska, June 21, 1898. Nest simply a depression in the sand on the sea beach.