KNOT. 141 



limits of the Arctic Circle. Captain Parry's adventurous 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 Bay 

 down to the 55th parallel. It is also supposed to breed in 

 Denmark and in the Orkney Islands. It is likewise met with 

 in Iceland, on the shores of the Caspian, and on the banks of 

 the Don and Choper in Russia ; and continuing eastward 

 towards the American continent, in that direction, is again 

 found in Siberia, and on the other side of the boreal circle at 

 Nootka Sound. 



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 Massachusetts Bay, 

 particularly around Chatham and the Vineyard. 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 gray 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 be- 

 hind. 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 succes- 

 sively thinned by the gun, till the whole are nearly destroyed ; 

 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 



