[f. TURN v. + STONE sb.] A limicoline bird (Strepsilas interpres) of about the size of the snipe, widely distributed in the Old and New Worlds, which turns over stones to get at the crustacea and other small animals to be found under them.
1674. Ray, Words, Water Fowl, 91. The Turn-stone:… Cinclus Turneri. This bird we observed on the coast of Cornwall: it is lesser then a Plover, and somewhat bigger then a Black-bird.
1678. Ray, Willughby’s Ornith., III. v. 311. The Turn-stone, or Sea-Dottrel.
1731. Mortimer, in Phil. Trans., XXXVII. 176. The Turn-Stone or Sea-Dottrel … is a Native both of England and America.
1802. Montagu, Ornith. Dict., s.v., The Turnstone is subject to great variety in respect to the markings about the head and neck.
1862. Ansted, Channel Isl., 207. The turnstone is found about the neighbourhood of Herm throughout the year.
1904. Blackw. Mag., Feb., 250/2. The turnstones … breed in Alaska.
