Knot.

Tringa canutus, Linn. Faun. Suec., p. 65.
—— ferruginea, Meyer, Taschenb. deutsch. Vog., tom. ii. p. 395.
—— calidris, Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. i. p. 253.
cinerea, Gmel. edit. Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. i. p. 673.
——— grisea et nevia, Gmel. ibid., p- 681.
— islandica, Gmel. ibid., p. 682.
- australis, Lath. Ind. Orn., vol. ii. ps.757-
Canutus islandicus, Brehm, Vog. Deutschl., p. 654.

 

cinereus, Brehm, ibid., p. 655, tab. 34. fig. 2.

 

Tue Knot is more numerous in Britain during the spring and autumn months than at any other season of
the year. At the former period it is proceeding northward to breed in some unknown country, and in
the latter it is retracing its steps in a southerly direction; our islands must therefore be regarded as a mere
halting-station during its great vernal and autumnal movements: but this statement must not be taken
literally, inasmuch as in the intervening seasons stray individuals and even small flocks are sometimes
seen. I have received specimens of the Knot from nearly every coast of Africa; and it is probably that
part of the globe from which our numerous spring visitors arrive, and to which they again proceed in autumn.
Judging from a letter kindly transmitted to me by Lord Lilford, Spain, from south to north, would seem
to be another of its halting-places ; for he says:—TI found this species in enormous numbers (I believe
I might, without exaggeration, say in millions) on the great alluvial flats of the Guadalquivir, not far from
San Lucar de Barrameda, in the first fortnight of May 1872. There were also great numbers of many
other species of marsh-birds; but this was by far the most numerous at that time. Almost all of the
many specimens we obtained were in full summer plumage. Their numbers daily diminished as the
marshes became drier with the advance of the season. I have kept a great many of this species alive
in my aviary, some of which regularly acquired the red plumage in summer; but it seemed to me never
so brilliant as in the wild birds. They often perched on the cross-perches in the aviary, and fed readily
on chopped meat, bread, soaked grain, worms, &c., in sammer catching gnats and flies for themselves.”

“The Knot,” says Yarrell, ‘ visits Iceland, and goes to much higher northern latitudes every summer, as
reference to the natural-history details of our various Arctic expeditions will prove. Captain Sabine, in his
memoir on the birds of Greenland, says :—‘ The Knot was killed at Hare Island in June.’ On Sir Edward
Parry’s first voyage, these birds were found breeding in great abundance on the North Georgian Islands ; and
on the second voyage a young male of the year was killed in the Duke of York’s Bay on the 17th of
August. Dr. Richardson adds :—* Knots were observed breeding on Melville Peninsula by Captain Lyon,
who tells us that they lay four eggs on a tuft of withered grass, without being at the pains of forming any
nest.” In the ‘ Fauna Boreali-Americana,’ Dr. Richardson says the Knot breeds in Hudson’s Bay and
down to the fifty-fifth parallel; the eggs are described as being of a light yellowish brown, marked at
the larger end with grey and reddish spots, forming more or less a sort of zone, and but little spotted
towards the point.” This bird, in all its various states of plumage, appears to be well known to the
ornithologists of the United States.

The Knot is evidently less common on the west coast of Scotland and the Outer Hebrides than on the
east; for Mr. Robert Gray says :—‘ Judging from my own observations, I should be inclined to regard, this
bird as a somewhat uncommon species in the western counties of Scotland. I have met with occasional
specimens from Sutherlandshire to the Mull of Galloway, but have never seen such flocks on our shores as
are to be seen on those of the eastern counties. It has occurred in Islay, as I have been informed by
Mr. Elwes, but not, so far as I am aware, on any of the other islands, except in a single instance, namely
that of a specimen in full summer plumage which was shot on the 30th of July 1870, by Captain MacRea,
in the strand of Vallay, in the North Uist, and shown to me by that gentleman three days afterwards, when
I visited the island. mis specimen is now in the collection of Captain Orde. In September 1868, when ona
visit to the Mull of Galloway lighthouse, I saw a fine ey taken on the a ee 3 it
stunned; but Mr. McDonald, one of the keepers there, informed me that he had nevel pi one before.

Speaking of the birds of Ireland, Thompson says “ the flight of the Knot is very swift anc ae On
the Ist of February 1845, I noticed a large flock of from a thousand to twelve hundred, sweeping over the