124 A MANUAL OF THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
is Jonger than the metatarsus, and a little more than half the length of the tail. 
The wings are long and very pointed, the first primary longest. The tail is short 
and even less than half the length of the wing. The tarsus is short and stout, 
regularly scutellate in front and behind ; it is about the same length or a little less 
than the culmen, but longer than the middle toe. The toes are short, strong, and 
widely margined, though cleft to the base ; the middle toe is about two-thirds the 
length of the tarsus. A strong hind-toe and claw are present. 
85. Calidris canutus.—KNOT. 
[Tringa canutus Linné, Syst. Nat., 10th ed., p. 149, Jan. Ist, 1758: Europe. Extra-limital.] 
Mathews, Vol. III., pt. 3, pl. 163, Aug. 18th, 1913. 
Canutus canutus rogerst Mathews, Birds Austr., Vol. III., pt. 3, p. 270, Aug. 18th, 1913: 
Japan. 
DisTRIBUTION.—Winter visitor to Australia, breeding in the northern hemisphere. 
Adult male in summer-plumage.—Sides of face, sides of crown, throat, and 
under-surface rufous, abdomen white, and the under tail-coverts have narrow black 
streaks ; axillaries white with brown bars; under wing-coverts white with small 
dark frecklings ; the top of the head black with rufous margins to the feathers ; 
hind-neck grey with dark shaft-lines ; back and scapulars black with chestnut or 
white edgings to the feathers of the former and twin spots on the latter ; lesser upper 
wing-coverts, median, and the greater series pale brown, the latter tipped with white ; 
bastard-wing dark brown, as also the primary-coverts, which have white tips ; 
primary-quills dark brown, black at the tips and white shafts ; secondaries paler 
brown with white tips and whitish inner webs, the long innermost feathers like the 
back ; rump grey with whitish tips to the feathers ; upper tail-coverts white, barred 
and longitudinally lined with black; tail-feathers grey ; eyes brown; feet olive- 
brown ; bill black. Total length 258 mm. ; culmen 31, wing 156, tail 64, tarsus 31. 
Adult female in summer-plumage.—Very similar to the adult male. 
Adult male in winter-plumage—Ash-grey above, with narrow dark shaft-lines 
to the feathers ; wings much the same as that of the summer-plumage ; upper tail- 
coverts also similar but not so strongly pronounced ; sides of face, throat, and entire 
under-surface white, with minute pale brown shaft-streaks on the sides of the face 
and frecklings of the same colour on the breast and sides of the body and, more 
sparsely, on the abdomen and under tail-coverts ; axillaries longitudinally marked 
with brown and white. 
Adult female in winter-plumage—Similar to the adult male. 
Immature—Differs from the winter-plumage in having black submarginal 
lines fringed with white to the feathers of the back and wings, which are brown ; 
under parts buffish-white, with an indistinct chest band of darker shade. 
Nestling in down.—Fore-head warm buff, with a central black line; over the 
eye a double black line ; crown, from centre backwards, black slightly varied with 
rufous and dotted with buff; nape creamy-buff, slightly varied with blackish ; 
upper-parts black, slightly varied with reddish-brown, and profusely dotted with 
creamy-white ; under parts very slightly washed with warm buff. Specimens in 
the British Museum, probably through exposure, are greyish-brown, mottled with 
black and spangled with white; under parts nearly white. 
Nest.—In a hollow in the ground, lined with lichen. 
Eggs.—Clutch, four; greenish-grey, finely spotted all over with pale inky 
shell markings and blackish surface spots, sometimes the latter larger and bolder 
at the larger end ; somewhat variable in coloration. Average measurements: axis 
43 mm., diameter 30 mm. 
Breeding-season.— July. 
