when the clusters of oyster-shells or clods of mud were too heavy to be removed in the ordinary way, they would use not only the bill and head, but also the breast, pushing the object with all their strength, and reminding me of the labour which I have undergone in turning over a large turtle. Among the sea-weeds that had been cast on the shore, they used only the bill, tossing the garbage from side to side, with a dexterity extremely pleasant to behold. In this manner, I saw these four Turnstones examine almost every part of the shore along a space of from thirty to forty yards; after which I drove them away, that our hunters might not kill them on their return. On another occasion, when in company with Mr HARRIS, and on the same island I witnessed the same pleasing proceeding, several Turnstones being engaged in searching for food in precisely the same manner. At other times, and especially when in the neighbourhood of St Augustine, in East Florida, I used to amuse myself with watching these birds on the racoon-oyster banks, using my glass for the purpose. I observed that they would search for such oysters as had been killed by the heat of the sun, and pick out their flesh precisely in the manner of our Common Oyster-catcher, _Hæmatopus palliatus_, while they would strike at such small bivalves as had thin shells, and break them, as I afterwards ascertained, by walking to the spot. While on the Florida coast, near Cape Sable, I shot one in the month of May, that had its stomach filled with those beautiful shells, which, on account of their resemblance to grains of rice, are commonly named rice-shells. I have always looked upon the Turnstone, while at its avocations, as a species very nearly allied to the Oyster-catcher; and, although it certainly differs in some particulars, were I to place it in a position determined by its affinities, I should remove it at once from the Tringa family. Its mode of searching for food around pebbles and other objects, the comparative strength of its legs, its retiring disposition, and its loud whistling notes while on wing, will, I think, prove at some period that what I have ventured to advance may be in accordance with the only true system, by which I mean Nature’s own system, could one be so fortunate as to understand it.