SNIPES, SANDPIPERS 161 



with black and white; breast and sides dark barred; otherwise similar. 

 Immature plumage: above pale brownish gray, the feathers of the back, 

 scapulars and wing coverts with whitish edgings and dusky submarginal 

 markings ; upper tail coverts with dark bars ; tail feathers narrowly margined 

 with white ; below white or whitish with streaks of dark on breast and flanks. 

 Wing 6.40 to 6.78 ; culmen 1.35 ; tarsus 1.28. 



Geog. Dist. — Northern hemisphere, nearly cosmopolitan ; breeding range 

 within Arctic Circle ; wintering on American shores from Florida to South 

 America. 



County Records. — Cumberland ; transient, generally uncommon, occurs 

 between May 24 and June 11 in spring, and in fall in August and September, 

 (Brown, C. B. P. p. 26). Hancock; formerly common among the outer 

 islands and along the coast in August and September, now very seldom seen, 

 (Knight). Knox; migrant, (Norton). Sagadahoc; very rare, (Spinney). 

 Waldo; seldom now, (Knight). Washington; rare, (Boardman) ; plenty 

 in fall, (Clark). 



Though formerly common as a migrant along the coast in 

 late May, early June, August and September, the Knot is a 

 bird which is now annually seen in fewer numbers along our 

 coast. Locally some seasons it is still seen in considerable 

 numbers. They occur in small flocks, feeding on various small 

 mollusks, crustaceans and sea-worms along the beaches, over 

 the sea-weed of half-tide ledges or among the pebbly stretches 

 exposed at low tide. 



I have found them most plentiful on the outer islands and 

 half-tide ledges of Penobscot Bay in past years. Their cry 

 on taking flight is a peculiar whistled "waquit". They return 

 repeatedly to good feeding grounds, merely circling away and 

 back when shot at, so that a flock is often annihilated. 



Little seems known about their nesting. An egg said to 

 have been collected near Fort Conger by General Greely is 

 described as light pea green, closely spotted with brown in 

 small specks about the size of a pinhead and measuring 1.10 

 X 1.00 (Auk. 2, p. 313). Eggs stated to be those of this 

 species are described and figured in Birds Nesting in Northwest 

 Canada, these eggs being stated to come from Raedodavmsi, 

 Iceland. 



