Vol. XI Mackay on the Knot. 25 



1S93 J 



OBSERVATIONS ON THE KNOT {TRINGA CAN- 



UTUS). 



BY GEORGE H. MACKAY. 



This bird, which formerly sojourned on these shores in great 

 abundance, and occurs now to a limited extent during its migra- 

 tions, has been the subject of considerable inquiry as to the 

 cause of its appearing now in such reduced numbers. As each 

 contribution to the subject may add something in assisting correct 

 conclusions I have ventured to present the following resume, 

 especially of the habits and movements of this bird during its short 

 stay in Massachusetts while on migration. The Knot, Red 

 Breast, or Robin Snipe, is cosmopolitan in its migrations, 

 visiting various portions of either hemisphere. Little is known, 

 however, of its breeding places, and authentic eggs are almost 

 entirely unknown in collections. Lieut. Greely is reported to 

 have discovered an egg with the bird in the vicinity of Fort 

 Conger, in Lat. Si° 33' (Auk, II, 313). It has been found 

 breeding along the shores of Smith's Sound and the north coast 

 of Grinnell Land. Sabine in 1S20 found it nesting in great 

 numbers on Melville Island, and in Parry's first voyage he found 

 it breeding on the North Georgian Islands. Capt. Lyons also in 

 1823 found it breeding on Melville Peninsula. On July 30, 1S76, 

 Mr. Henry W. Fielding noted an old bird with three nestlings 

 at Knot Harbor, Grinnell Land (Baird, Brewer and Ridgway, 

 Water Birds, Vol. I, p. 214). On the west coast of the Pacific 

 it migrates as far south as Australia and New Zealand to winter, 

 passing Japan and China. It also winters in Damara Land, 

 Africa, and in America has been taken as far south as Brazil. 

 The American bird differs only in size from the Japanese bird 

 (Trznga crassirostris), which is larger (Seebohm's Plovers, 

 pp. 421,424). It is abundant during migrations on the coast of 

 British Columbia ('Check List of British Columbian Birds,' by 

 John Fannin). Mr. Ernest E. Thompson ('Birds of Manitoba') 

 also notes it as a spring migrant in Manitoba. Messrs. Sclater 

 and Hudson make no mention of it in their 'Argentine Ornithol- 

 ogy,' so if it reaches the southern portion of the South American 

 continent it has escaped their observation. 



