418 SCOLOPACIDJ;, 



ably occurs in summer along the entire coast, as it was 

 obtained at Point Bai-row in the extreme north of Alaska on 

 the 5th July, 1882, and farther south it has been re- 

 corded from the mouth of the Yukon and from Sitka. On 

 migration it visits British America, and the east coast and 

 inland waters of the United States ; and an example has 

 been obtained as far south as Brazil (Ibis, 1874, p. 319). 



The food of the Knot consists largely of the small in- 

 habitants of bivalve shells of the genera Rissoa and Turbo, 

 and Mr. Adamson says that some which he received from the 

 fens had been feeding on maggots. One obtained at Dis- 

 covery Bay contained two caterpillars of Dasyclicra groen- 

 landica, one bee, and pieces of an Alga. In its habits, 

 especially on its first arrival on our coasts, it is remarkable 

 for its absence of fear. It has never been known to breed in 

 captivity, although individuals in the Gardens of the Zoo- 

 logical Society have fully assumed their ruddy summer 

 plumage, and have even retained it later in the autumn than 

 is usual with wild birds. 



An albino specimen of the Knot shot near Maldon, in 

 Essex, on the 13th of February, 1851 (Zool. p. 3116), is in 

 the collection of Mr. F. Bond. 



A male in perfect summer plumage obtained from Yar- 

 mouth so late in the season as the 25th of May, 1820, and 

 from which the figure in the front of the illustration here 

 given was drawn, has the beak black ; the irides hazel ; 

 cheeks and round the eye chestnut-red, with a few dark 

 brown spots between the beak and the eye, and on the ear- 

 coverts ; the forehead, top of the head, and the back of 

 the neck, reddish-brown, streaked with dark brown ; back, 

 scapulars, smaller wing-coverts, and tertials, black, margined 

 with reddish- brown and white; greater wing-coverts ash- 

 grey ; primaries greyish-black, with white shafts; secondaries 

 edged with white ; rump and upper tail-coverts white, 

 tinged with red, with crescentic bars of black and edged 

 with white ; tail-feathers ash-colour, darker near the margin, 

 and edged with white ; chin, neck, breast, and belly, nearly 

 uniform rich reddish-chestnut ; ilanks, vent, and under 



