498 KNEE— KNOT 



KNEE, a term commonly misapplied by many ornithological 

 writers to the intertarsal (often called tibio-tarsal) joint, hence the 

 absurd name of Thick-KNEE; but correctly used as in Mammals for 

 the femoro-tibial joint, which is not usually visible in the living 

 Bird, owing to the shortness of the thigh and its being hidden 

 by the flank-feathers. 



KNORHAAN (Scolding Cock), the colonial name in South Africa 

 for several species of Bustard, of the genus Ewpodotis and especially 

 E. afra. 



KNOT, a Limicoline bird very abundant at certain seasons on 

 the shores of Britain and many countries of the northern hemisphere. 

 Camden in the edition of his Britannia published in 1607 (p. 408) 

 inserted a passage not found in the earlier issues of that work, 

 connecting the name with that of King Canute, and this account of 

 its origin has been usually received. But no other evidence in its 

 favour is forthcoming, and Camden's statement is merely the expres- 

 sion of an opinion,^ so that there is perhaps ground for believing 

 him to have been mistaken, and that the clue afforded by Sir 

 Thomas Browne, who (circa 1672) wrote the name "Gnatts or 

 Knots," may be the true one.^ Still the statement was so positively 

 repeated by successive authors that Linnaeus followed them in calling 

 the species Tringa canutus, and so it remains with nearly all modern 

 ornithologists.^ Rather larger than a Snipe, but with a short bill and 

 legs, the Knot visits the coasts of some parts of Europe, Asia and 

 North America at times in vast flocks ; and, though in temperate 

 climates a good many remain throughout the "winter, these are nothing 

 compared with the numbers that arrive towards the end of spring, in 

 England generally about the 15th of May, and after staying a few 

 days pass northward to their summer quarters, while early in autumn 

 the young of the year throng to the same places in still greater 

 plenty, being followed a little later by their parents. In Avinter the 



^ His words are simply " Knotts, i. Canuti aues, vt opinor e Dania enim 

 aduolare creduntur." In the margin the name is spelt " Cnotts," and he possibly- 

 thought it had to do with a well-known story of that king. Knots undoubtedly 

 frequent the sea-shore, where Canute is said on one occasion to have taken up his 

 station, but they generally retreat, and that nimbly, before the advancing surf, 

 which he is said in the story not to have done. 



^ In this connexion we may compare the French maringouin, ordinarily a gnat 

 or mosquito, but also, among the French Creoles of America, a small shore-bird, 

 either a Tringa or an ^-Egialitis, according to Descourtilz {Voyage, ii. p. 249). 

 See also Littre's Dictionnaire, suh voce. 



^ There are few of the Limicolae, to which group the Knot belongs, that 

 present greater changes of plumage according to age or season, and hence before 

 these phases were understood the species became encimibered with many synonyms, 

 as Tringa cincrea, ferruginea, grisea, islandica, nxvia, and so forth. The confusion 

 thus caused was maialy cleared away by Montagu and Temminck. 



