KNOT. 177 



night as well as by clay, and the flocks of these birds seem as active by 

 moonlight as during daylight. They often become very restless towards 

 evening, and it is no uncommon thing to see them passing along over the 

 mud-flats or the sea at sunset on their way to a favourite feeding-place. 



The food of the Knot consists of small sand-worms, aquatic insects, 

 crustaceans, and small mollusks. Wilson observed that on the sandy 

 shores of New Jersey this bird fed almost exclusively on a small bivalve 

 shell-fish of a pearly-white colour, which was swallowed whole. Its food 

 in summer is probably almost exclusively composed of insects and larvte, 

 varied occasionally with buds and perhaps ground-fruit. Mr. Cordeaux 

 states that he has frequently found its gizzard crammed with entire shells 

 and broken pieces of marine bivalves, principally belonging to the genus 

 Tellina. In autumn these birds are very fat and their flesh is prized as an 

 article of food, numbers being netted and shot for the markets. 



The breeding-habits of the Knot are not very Avell known, and, perhaps, 

 the best particulars of this interesting period of its existence are those 

 collected by the naturalists of the ' Alert ^ and 'Discovery^ during the 

 last British Arctic Expedition. Captain Feilden says that when camped, 

 in 1876, near Knot Harbour, in Grinnell Land, Knots were first seen 

 on the 5th of June : a flock of fourteen flew over a hill-side, and alighted 

 to feed on the buds of the well-known Saxifraga oppositifolia. They were 

 afterwards met with in considerable numbers, but were always wild and 

 difficult to approach. Feilden describes the note of the Knot as wild, some- 

 thing like the cry of a Curlew. Immediately after their arrival in June 

 they began to pair, and two males were sometimes observed followino- a 

 single female. During the pairing-time they soared in the air like a Snipe, 

 and, in descending from a height, beat their wings together behind their 

 backs, making a loud whirring noise. Dm-ing July Feilden and his com- 

 panions tried hard to discover the nest of the Knot, but without success. 

 On the 30th of that month, the day before they left their winter-quarters 

 three of the sailors, walking near a small lake, had the good fortune to 

 come upon an old male with three downy nestlings. 



Mr. Ilart, the naturalist attached to the 'Discovery,^ observed the first 

 Knots on the 31st of May, after which date they became common. He 

 also describes them as very wary, and as often feeding at a considerable 

 distance inland, on the margins of the lonely swamps and pools. One 

 pair of Knots, after having evidently selected a nesting-site, deserted it 

 when they found that they were being watched. Mr. Hart says that 

 when pairing, the birds toy with each other in the air and on the ground 

 the male occasionally uttering a sweet flute-like whistle. On the 11th and 

 12th of July, when the young were just hatched, the parents tried by 

 various manoeuvres to decoy him away ; they ran along the ground with 

 outspread wings, or took short flights and suddenly alighted again close to 



VOL. III. N 



