KNOT. 3 



together on the earth by the edge of a stream ; I could find no trace of the 

 egg-shells. Upon the following day three more young were caught ; these were 

 apparently a couple of days out of the shell, grotesque little things, very lively and 

 active, with large dark eyes, the body very small, and the wing-pinions just 

 showing. Their feet were almost as large as those of the full-grown bird, and 

 they were able to run at a marvellous rate. Both the young broods were 

 found three or more miles inland, and in each case close to a stream. Of 

 a number of Knots' stomachs examined, only one contained any food ; this 

 consisted of two caterpillars [Dasychira grcenlandica, Wocke), one bee, and 

 pieces of an Alga (Glceocapsa magna, Kir.). Dr. Coppinger saw Knots 

 frequently in Polaris Bay during July, 1876; he met with one brood of five 

 young together among stones." 



Respecting the pairing habits of the Knot and the capture of the young in 

 down, Col. H. W. Feilden writes*: — "On 5th June, 1876, when camped near 

 Knot Harbour, Grinnell Land (lat. 82° 33' N.), we noticed the first arrival of these 

 birds ; a flock of fourteen or more were circling over a hillside, alighting on bare 

 patches, and feeding eagerly on the buds of Saxifrarja opposit^folia. Subsequently 

 we met with this bii'd in considerable numbers ; but they were always very wild 

 and most difficult of approach. The cry of the Knot is wild, and something like 

 that of the Curlew. Immediately after arrival in June they began to mate, and at 

 times I noticed two or more males following a single female ; at this season they 

 soar in the air, like the Common Snipe, and when descending from a height beat 

 their wings behind the back with a rapid motion, which produces a loud whirring 

 noise. During the month of July my companions and I often endeavoured to 

 discover the nest of this bird ; but none of us were successful ; however, on the 

 30th July, 1876, the day before we broke out of our winter-quarters, where we 

 had been frozen-in eleven months, three of our seamen, walking by the border of 

 a small lake, not far from the ship, came upon an old bird accompanied by three 

 nestlings, which they brought to me. The old bird proved to be a male ; its stomach, 

 and those of the young ones, were filled with insects. The following description 

 of the newly hatched birds was taken down at the time : — Iris black ; tip of 

 mandibles dark brown, bill dark olive ; toes black, soles of feet greenish yellow, 

 back of legs tlie same ; underpart of throat satin-white ; back beautifully mottled 

 tortoise-shell." 



* "List of Birds observed in Smith Sound and iu the Polar Basin during the Arctic Expedition 

 of 1875-76," ' Ibis,' 1S77, pp. 407-40S. 



