KNOT. 417 



les8 general than that of many of its congeners. It has not 

 been found in Spitsbergen, or in Novaya Zemlya, and Henke's 

 statement (Ibis, 1882, p. 381) that it had been " seen in 

 summer at the mouth of the Dwina, evidently breeding," 

 requires confirmation. Messrs. Seebohm and Harvie-Brown 

 did not obtain it on the Petchora, nor did the former meet 

 with it on the Yenesei. On the famous Taimyr Peninsula, 

 Middendorff found a solitary example, dead, on the 30th 

 August ; and only two were seen and obtained on the 

 Boganida, on the 27th May ; although a large number are 

 said to have been seen in July, near the mouth of the Ud^. 

 The latter may have been immature T. crassirostris, a bird 

 of about the same size, but which has a black breast in 

 breeding-plumage ; and which as a rule replaces the Knot 

 in Eastern Asia. On the Amoor Dr. Schrenck obtained two 

 specimens of our Knot, and Dr. Dybowski got one in Dauria; 

 identified examples are recorded by Messrs. Blakiston and 

 Pryer from Japan, and from Shanghai in China, by Swinhoe, 

 Returning to Europe : it is common on migration along the 

 western shores, becoming rarer in, and to the east of, the 

 Baltic ; and it evidently crosses the Continent by more than 

 one route, as, although rare from Italy eastwards in the 

 Mediterranean, it occurs on the Black Sea. In Spain 

 thousands of birds in breeding-plumage arrive in May, 

 especially at the mouth of the Guadalquivir. The migrations 

 of the Knot can be traced along the West Coast of Africa as 

 far as Damara Land ; but the only authority for its occur- 

 rence on the eastern side is Vierthaler, who states that he 

 observed it on the Blue Nile. It is not included amongst 

 the migrants across the great Asian ranges ; it has only 

 thrice been recorded in India, and the bird obtained by 

 Jerdon at Madras is believed by Mr. Hume to have been 

 T. crassirostris, which replaces our bird throughout the 

 Malayan and Papuan sub-region ; but undoubted specimens 

 of our Knot have been obtained in Australia and New 

 Zealand in winter plumage. 



In America the Arctic range of the Knot has already been 

 traced to the Parry Islands. Continuing westward, it prob- 



VOL. III. 3 H 



