582 KNOT. 



the way to its breeding-grounds, which, according to the earlier 

 Arctic explorers, were found on Melville Peninsula, and also — much 

 further to the north-west — on Melville Island, one of the North 

 Georgian or Parry group, whence no identified eggs, however, 

 appear to have been brought back. In 1876 Col. Feilden, naturalist 

 to H.M.S. 'Alert,' searched in vain for them, but on July 30th a 

 male and three nestlings were obtained near a small lake on Grinnell 

 Land in lat. 82° 33' N., while Mr. Chichester Hart, naturalist to 

 H.M.S. ' Discovery,' captured a brood of four in lat. 81° 44' on 

 the nth, three more being taken next day: a beautiful group of 

 the old and young is in the British Museum. An assertion in 

 ' The Auk ' that the egg had been obtained on Lieut. Greeley's 

 expedition requires confirmation. West ctf the Parry Islands the 

 Knot can be traced to Alaska, where it is not plentiful ; but in 

 Arctic Siberia its representative is T. crassiros/ris, which has a 

 black breast in summer ; our bird being of very rare or irregular 

 occurrence, though it has been recorded from Daiiria, China and 

 Japan. Mr. Seebohni did not meet with it on the Yenesei or the 

 Petchora, nor has it been found in Novaya Zemlya or Spitsbergen. 

 On migration it visits the coasts of Europe, and the west side 

 of Africa to Damara-land, but is seldom observed in the Indian 

 region, though it goes as far south as Australia and New Zealand. 

 In America it is well known on passage along the Atlantic sea-board, 

 and has been found in Jamaica, while a single specimen has been 

 obtained in Brazil. 



The birds observed by Col. Feilden on and after July 5th were 

 feeding eagerly on the buds of Saxifraga oppositifolia, while the 

 stomach of one killed at Discovery Bay contained two caterpillars 

 of Dasychera groenlandica, one bee, and pieces of an Alga ; in 

 this country small bivalves are freely eaten. The Knot is remark- 

 ably gregarious, and the young are very unsuspicious on their 

 arrival ; no wader strikes the lighthouses more frequently. 



The adult in breeding-dress (in the foreground) has the crown 

 and neck reddish-brown with darker streaks ; feathers of the mantle 

 blackish, spotted with chestnut and margined with white ; tail-coverts 

 white barred with black; cheeks, throat and breast chestnut; flanks, 

 vent and under tail-coverts whitish, mottled with black. Length 

 10 in. ; wing 6 '5 in. In winter the upper parts are ash-grey, and 

 the under parts are white with grey flecks. In the young bird the 

 feathers of the mantle have crescentic ash-coloured bars and dull 

 white tips, the under parts having a buffish tinge ; the legs and feet 

 are dull olive. Mr. F. Bond has an albino shot near Maldon. 



