126 



WADING BIRDS. 



passing the summer or reproductive season in the utmost 

 habitable limits of the arctic circle. Captain Parry's ad- 

 venturous party found it breeding on Melville Peninsula, 

 and in other parts of those hyperboreal regions ; as on Seal 

 Islands, probably, near Chatteux Bay, as well as in the 

 vicinity of Hudson's Bay, down to the 55th parallel. It is 

 also supposed to breed in Denmark, and in the Orkney Isl- 

 ands. They are likewise met with in Iceland, on the shores 

 of the Caspian, and the banks of the Don and Choper in 

 Russia, and continuing eastward towards the American 

 continent, in that direction, are again found in Siberia, 

 and on the other side of the boreal circle at Nootka 

 Sound. 



According to Mr. Hutchins, the Knot lays 4 eggs, on a 

 tuft of withered grass, which are of a dun color, copiously 

 marked with reddish spots. In Great Britain, this species 

 chiefly confines its visits to the fens of Lincolnshire, the 

 Isle of Ely, and a few other places. Great flocks also, 

 in the winter season, visit the shores of Flintshire in Wales. 

 In the fens they are taken in great numbers, in nets, by 

 means of stuffed skins, called stale birds. According to 

 Pennant, as many as fourteen dozen have been taken at 

 once, the season being from August to November, as they 

 migrate with the appearance of the first frosts. They are 

 fattened and fed in the same manner as the Ruffs, and 

 are by some even preferred as game. According to the 

 account of Mr. Lewis, they sometimes even breed in Eng- 

 land, arriving with the Ruffs, and laying a pale ferrugin- 

 ous Ggg, in size rather inferior to that of the Lapwing, mark- 

 ed with spots and streaks of rust-color and cinereous. 



About the middle of August, flocks of the Knot, still 

 clad in their nuptial and summer plumage, appear on the 

 shores and in the marshes at the eastern extremity of Mas- 

 sachusetts Bay, particularly around Chatham and the Vin- 



