AMERICAN KNOT 139 



nuptial plumage as late as September 6. The red-breasted birds 

 reported by Mr. Mackay (1893) as shot on Cape Cod in December 

 and February must have been exceptional cases of delayed or omitted 

 molt ; the February birds may have been cases of early spring molt. 

 Food. — Doctor Ekblaw says: 



Their food when they first come to the North is scarce, and when the 

 weather is unduly unfavorable they are hard put to it to find enough to live. 

 They probe about the grasses and sedges on the wet moors and along the 

 swales and pools, and sometimes wade breast deep into the water to pick out 

 the small but abundant life that swarms in some of the pools, mostly Crustacea 

 and larvae. The upper mandible is relatively soft and pliant. Sometimes 

 they search the tide pools left at low water, or poke about the rocks and 

 gravel along shore. 



Other Arctic explorers have referred to the scanty food of the 

 knot in the north; H. Chichester Hart (1880) says that " of a num- 

 ber of knots' stomachs examined, only one contained any food; this 

 consisted of two caterpillars, one bee, and pieces of an Alga ; " 

 Colonel Feilden (1879) saw knots "feeding eagerly on the buds of 

 Saxifraga oppositifolia;" Mr. Manniche (1910) "saw them run- 

 ning on the snow eagerly occupied in picking up the seed of Gar ex 

 and Lazula tufts, the ends of which here and there appeared over 

 the snow." Later on, when the ponds and marshes are teeming with 

 animal life, they have plenty of food. 



With us, on migrations, the knots feed mainly on the sandy and 

 stony beaches, moving deliberately along in compact groups close 

 to the water's edge, probing in the sand for minute mollusks and 

 small crustaceans. On the sandy beaches on the west coast of 

 Florida, the w y et sand is filled w 7 ith minute shellfish known as 

 Coquinas, on which the knots seemed to be feeding. They also feed 

 to some extent on the mud flats and sand flats with the black-bellied 

 plover, where they find marine insects and their larvae. Mr. Mackay 

 (1893) says "they also eat the larvae of one of the cutworms 

 (Noctuidae) which they obtain on the marshes," some of which he 

 has found in their throats when shot. Edward H. Forbush (1912) 

 says: "They are fond of the spawn of the horsefoot crab, which, 

 often in company Avith the turnstone, they dig out of the sand, 

 sometimes fighting the former birds before they can claim their 

 share." W. L. McAtee (1911) says that they also feed on grass- 

 hoppers and on marine worms of the genus Nereis. 



Behavior. — The knots fly swiftly in compact flocks, twisting and 

 turning in unison like the smaller sandpipers, for which they might 

 easily be mistaken at a distance. On the ground they are rather 

 deliberate in their movements, generally grouped in compact bunches 

 and all moving along together; they are less likely to scatter over 



