2 SCOLOPACID^. 



traced to Alaska, where it is not plentiful ; but in Arctic Siberia its representative 

 is T. crassirostris, 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. Seebohm did not meet with it on the Yenesei or the Petchora, 

 nor has it been found in Novaya Zemlya or Spitzbergen. On migration it 

 visits the coasts of Europe, and the west side of Africa to Uamara-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." 



Mr. H. Chichester Hart, in his " Notes on the Ornithology of the British 

 Polar Expedition, 1875-6," writes as follows * : — " On the 4th August, 1875, I 

 saw half a dozen Knots in Hayes Sound, lat. 78° 56', and on the 25th several were 

 feeding along the shore, in company with Turnstones, in Discovery Bay. In the 

 following year the first Knot I saw was upon the 31st May; after that they 

 became frequent. On tlieir first arrival, and until absorbed in their breeding 

 duties, they were very wary, often feeding far inland by the loneliest swamps and 

 pools. A pair of Knots which had evidently selected a breeding-place, upon 

 finding they were watched, deserted the site entirely. When courting, Knots 

 play with one another upon the wing, and upon the ground, in a most entertaining 

 manner, pursuing, avoiding, and encouraging one another ; while the clear, sweet 

 flute-like whistle of the male is frequently heard. Later in the year, July 11th 

 and 12th, when the young ones were just hatched, I was much interested in 

 watching the parents carrying on the same manoeuvres as the Lapwing to decoy 

 the intruder from the young ; running along the ground with outspread wings, 

 feigning lameness, and taking short flights to re-alight suddenly close to one's 

 feet. In spite of most painstaking search and the offer of liberal rewards, all 

 efforts to obtain the eggs of the Knot were unsuccessful. Upon the 11th July 

 a brood of four, disturbed from the nest, were captured and brought on board 

 alive. The nest was placed under a large flat stone, resting on two others which 

 formed a sort of gangway ; it was merely of leaves and dry grass, loosely laid 



describes the egg as being a light pea-green in ground-colour, closely spotted witli brown in small 

 specks, about the size of the head of an ordinary pin, and measuring 1-1 by 1-0 inch. Ou the other 

 liand the Lite Mr. H. Seebohm states (' British Birds,' vol. iii. p. 174) that General Greely informed 

 him that it was "a very handsome egg, very boldly blotched, and about as large as that of the Common 

 Snipe."— F. P.] 



• ' Zoologist,' 1880, pp. 205, 206. 



