BIRDS OF ESSEX COUNTY. 1 69 



at the first discharge. Three were shot there in 1903, two of which are in my 

 collection through the kindness of Mr. T. C. Wilson, and Mr. T. E. Marr. 



I have never seen the bird alive, but Mr. Wilson describes its note as a 

 shrill double and occasionally triple whistle. Its legs, long in proportion to its 

 size, would easily distinguish it. The legs are greenish yellow and not bright 

 yellow as they are in the Tattler. 



100 [234] Tringa canutus Linn. 



Knot; "Red-breasted Plover"; "Blue Plover"; "Silver Plover"; 



" Gray-back." 



Common transient visitor; May 20 to June 4 (June 25); July 17 to 

 November 8. 



The Knot is essentially a beach bird, being rarely found in the marshes. 

 They occur in small flocks of from two or three to a dozen, either by themselves 

 or associated with other shore birds. They are generally quite tame, are easily 

 approached, and come to the gunner's decoys well bunched so that they are easily 

 shot. They are rather silent but occasionally emit a clear double whistle, soft 

 and low, especially when approaching other birds. 



The Knots seem to be particularly fond of small molluscs, for small peri- 

 winkles {Litorina) and mussels {Mytilns ednlis) are almost always found in 

 their stomachs. As they feed on the beach, they may be seen to search among 

 the seaweed for these dainties. The Black-bellied Plover and the Knot are gen- 

 erally very good friends, and are often found feeding and migrating together. 



The young, or "Blue Plovers," a very appropriate Ipswich name, arrive 

 about a month after their elders, and are still more unsuspecting. On June 

 25th, 1903, in a long northeast storm, I found three of these birds, two males 

 and one female, together with two Black-bellied Plover, feeding on the sandflats 

 at Ipswich Beach. All were fat, one being especially so, and their stomachs 

 contained small molluscs and a few sand fleas. The testicles of the two males 

 were 0.35 and 0.25 of an inch long, respectively, and two of the ova of the female 

 were 0.15 of an inch long, the rest very small. The plumage of one was that of 

 a full adult ; the other two, although quite red-breasted, were probably somewhat 

 immature. That these birds were late migrants to the north, or early ones to 

 the south, or birds that were spending the summer south of their breeding 

 range, are all possibilities. 



Flying and on the beach, the Knot is an inconspicuous bird, both in full 



