KNOT. 131 



Godwits and heavy Curlew. It is a squat, short-billed, dumpy 

 wader, always looking plump and in good condition — in winter 

 grey and white, in spring and summer reddish chestnut. 

 Immature birds with buffer under parts mix in the autumn and 

 winter packs. The name is said to have origin in Canute's 

 tidal experiences, but surely it is derived from the bird's note — 

 a clear kmit, kiiut^ which is, strangely, described by some 

 writers as a grunt ! When a flock settles the chorus rises as a 

 beautiful twitter. On the banks no waders pack so closely as 

 the Knot ; I have seen on the Yorkshire coast a strip of sand 

 and shingle at high tide solid with Knots, not an inch of sand 

 visible between their grey bodies. I have seen the Lancashire 

 tide-line, for at least a mile, one continuous ribbon of birds, 

 varying in width from two or three feet to six or more yards. 

 Where the " Duns," as the fowlers call them, were thickest, and 

 the birds moved, all in one direction with their heads down, the 

 impression given was of a slowly advancing grey carpet. As 

 they feed in these compact masses they must clear the shallowing 

 water and wet sand of all the small marine worms, molluscs, 

 and crustaceans, the winter food, but in the nesting haunts the 

 bird is largely vegetarian — golden saxifrage and seeds of sedge 

 and wood-rush are eaten. The bird feeds with the falling tide 

 both by day and night. 



Spring passage usually begins in April, and by May many of 

 the birds have donned summer dress ; partial summer plumage 

 has been recorded in January. Mr. F. W. Holder, who for 

 years has watched the Knots on the Lancashire coast, estimates 

 that the winter flocks often contain two or three thousand birds, 

 and when the passage migrants join them it is impossible to 

 guess at numbers. Used though it is to exposure to weather, 

 the Knot evidently prefers to be out of the wind ; when the 

 flocks are resting or feeding, birds on the windward side con- 

 stantly rise, take two or three fluttering wing-beats, and drop 

 into the thickest place so as to obtain the shelter of their 



