THE BIRDS OF DEVONSHIRE. 149 



rock, and allowing the spray to dash completely 

 over it ; on the receding of the wave it rises and 

 runs about nimbly, feeding until the approach of 

 the next." On the 2nd of October, 1871, Gatcombe 

 watched two on the rocks at Plymouth : they were 

 exceedingly tame, as is usual with this species. On 

 the 11th of November, 1875, he writes; "Purple 

 Sandpipers seem to have arrived in numbers during 

 the past month. I saw some feeding on the rocks 

 at the Point this morning-, and many have been 

 shot." In 1879, again, he records the arrival of a 

 a small flock of Purple Sandpipers on the 15th 

 of October, a date which he considered early for 

 Devon. Specimens have been obtained in North 

 and South Devon by Mr. Cecil Smith, Mr. liickards 

 and other naturalists, but Dr. Elliot rightly points 

 out that this bird is distinctly local in its distribu- 

 tion, and almost confined to the rocky portions of 

 our coast-line. 



KNOT. — Trinya canutus, Linn. 



A COMMON autumn and winter visitant to our 

 estuaries, rarely met with in the County in the 

 spring of the year. I have shot specimens on the 

 mud banks opposite Topsham, as early as the 12th 

 of September, but large flocks chiefly arrive in 

 early winter. Mr. Rickards killed a Knot in nearly 

 full summer livery, on the Coast of North Devon 

 early in September 1870, and Mr. D'Urban records 



