KNOT, OR ASH-COLORED SANDPIPER. 127 



yard. In many, however, the moult of autumn has already 

 commenced ; but in the nearer vicinity of Boston, flocks of 

 the young only are seen, disguised in the elegantly marked, 

 and sober grey of winter. When not harassed they are by 

 no means shy, allowing of a pretty near approach, while 

 busily and sedately employed in gleaning their food along 

 the strand, chiefly at the recess of the tide ; where, in friendly 

 company with the small Peep and other kindred species, 

 the busy flocks are seen gleaning up the rejectamenta of 

 the ocean, or quickly and intently probing the moist sand 

 for worms and minute shell-fish, running nimbly before the 

 invading surge, and profiting by what it leaves behind. 

 They seem like a diminutive army, marshalled in rank, and 

 spreading their animated lines, while perpetually engaged 

 in an advance or retreat before the break of the resounding 

 and ceaseless waves. Bred in solitudes, remote from the 

 haunts of men, the young, in particular, seem unconscious of 

 danger from the fowler, and a flock may sometimes be suc- 

 cessively thinned by the gun, till the whole are nearly des- 

 troyed ; when wounded, however, they take to the water 

 and swim with ease. 



On the coast of New Jersey and other parts of the Middle 

 States, they arrive in October, and are seen along the strand 

 in flocks, but disappear early in December, on their way 

 south to their winter quarters within the tropics, as a mere 

 variety, the T. australis, has been obtained in Cayenne. 

 On their return, they appear on the coast of the Middle 

 States early in May, on their way to their congenial retreats 

 in the north ; but at this time, few are to be seen compared 

 with the accumulating flocks of autumn ; while, at the 

 same season, in Holland, they are most abundant. Some 

 of these birds, in their rufous plumage, have been observed 

 to linger on the neighboring coast, till the 20th of July, so 

 that they must either have bred in the vicinity, or have 



