FOR THE CHILDREN.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 19889, 4 March 1920, Page 7

FOR THE CHILDREN.

THE TURNSTONE. There is a particular kind of wading bird which is called the Turnstone. It is rather a commonplace name and was given it for a commonplace reason. Just as a turnspit turns a spit, or a turnkey a key, or a turnstile a stile, on a. tnrnbull turned a hull from the sacred majesty of a Scottish king, so tho turnstone turns a stone. It is a black and white bird that haunts the seashore and the banks of streams, and has the habit of turning over stones with its bill in search of tho insects which are its chief food. When the stone is too big it pushes it witli its breast; and sometimes when, it is too heavy for one bird to move, other turustones will come along to help it. ' Two birds were thus seen trying to luni over a dead fish six times their size ; hut though they pushed first with their bills and then with their breasts, tho fish would not budge. AVere the birds beaten? No; they went round to the other side and scraped away the sand beneath the fish, and then went back and pushed again and toppled it over into the hole they had dug. THE SLEEPY MAN. Nurse says the sleepy man -Is coming—let us run, And watch him through (he keyhole;. ’Twill be-such glorious fun.' ’ I wonder what he looks like, For nurse has often told That he’s great-grandpa to Santa Claus; Then he must be very old. I So they softly crept to the playroom— Little Ted and Blue-eyed Nan— And waited long and patiently To see the sleepy man. At last it came their bedtime, And nurse looked all around For Baby Nan and Little. Ted, But neither could be found. So then she sought tho playroom, And lo v ! behind the door The sleepy man had caught them both And lam them on the floor. '