during the Arctic Expedition 1875-76. 407 



10. Tringa canutus. Knot. 



I was not so fortunate as to obtain the eggs of this species 

 during my stay in the polar regions^ though it breeds in some 

 numbers along the shores of Smith Sound and the north coast 

 of Grinnell Land. It appears to be common throughout the 

 Parry Islands during summer, as Sabine found it (1820) 

 nesting in great numbers on Melville Island. I find it enu- 

 merated in a list of birds (preserved in the archives of the 

 Admiralty) as procured by Dr. Anderson, of H.M.S. 'Enter- 

 prise/ at Cambridge Bay (lat. 69° 10' N.) in July 1853. On 

 the 28th July, 1875, Dr. Coppinger came across a party of 

 six Knots several miles inland from Port Foulke : these birds 

 were feeding near a rill, and were very wild ; but he managed 

 to secure a single specimen, a male in full breeding-plumage. 

 August 25, 1875, I observed several of these birds near the 

 water-edge in Discovery Bay (lat. 81° 44' N.) . The rills and 

 marshes were by this time frozen, and the birds were feeding 

 along the shore on the small crustaceans so common in the 

 arctic seas ; in pursuit of their food they ran breast-high into 

 the water. By this date they had lost their breeding-plumage. 

 On 5th June, 1876, when camped near Knot Harbour, Grin- 

 nell Land (lat. 82° 33' N.), we noticed the first arrival of these 

 birds ; a flock of fourteen or more were circling over a hill- 

 side, alighting on bare patches, and feeding eagerly on the 

 buds of Saxifraga oppositifolia. Subsequently we met with 

 this bird in considerable numbers ; but they were always very 

 wild and most difficult of approach. The cry of the Knot is 

 wild, and something like that of the Cuj'lew. Immediately 

 after arrival in June they began to mate, and at times I noticed 

 two or more males following a single female ; at this season 

 they soar in the air, like the common Snipe, and when de- 

 scending from a height beat their wings behind the back with 

 a rapid motion, which produces a loud whirring noise. During 

 the month of July my companions and I often endeavoured 

 to discover the nest of this bird ; but none of us were suc- 

 cessful; however, on the 30th July, 1876, the day before we 

 broke out of our winter-quarters, where we had been frozen- 

 in eleven months, three of our seamen, walking by the border 



