632 scoLOPAciDyE. 



/ 



Bay and down to the fifty-fifth parallel ; the eggs are de- 

 scribed as being of a light yellowish brown, marked at the 

 larger end with grey and reddish spots, forming more or less 

 a sort of zone, and but little spotted towards the point. This 

 bird in all its various states of plumage appears to be well 

 known to the ornithologists of the United States. 



Returning to the British Islands, Mr. Thompson sends me 

 word that the Knot is a regular autumn visitant to Ireland. 

 It is also found in flocks on most of the shores of the southern 

 and eastern counties of England in autumn ; the greater por- 

 tion of these are young birds of the year that have come 

 southward from the breeding grounds, and the London mar- 

 kets exhibit a good supply through the winter. They are 

 excellent birds for the table, and their good qualities as food 

 appear to have been long known. In the Norfolk House- 

 hold Book, which I have frequently quoted, and which com- 

 mences in 1519, are various records of rewards to the fowler 

 for bringing in Knots. Pennant quotes Camden as saying 

 " that these birds derive their name from King Canute, Knute 

 or Knout as he is sometimes called ; probably because they 

 were a favourite dish with that monarch." The birds appear 

 to feed principally on aquatic insects and the soft animals 

 inhabiting bivalve shells. They have been observed to swim 

 with great ease, and are stupidly tame on their first arrival 

 in autumn. Sir William Jardine mentions " that he once 

 met with a large flock on the east side of Holy Island, in the 

 m.onth of September, which were so tame as to allow him to 

 kill as many as he wanted with stones from the beach, and he 

 possesses another specimen, in full plumage, killed by a boy 

 on Portobello sands by the same means." 



M. Temminck says the Knot is seen in spring and 

 autumn in Holland, but that it is rare in Germany, France, 

 and the more southern portions of Europe, and I am unable 

 to trace it as going to the eastward. 



