26 Mackay 07i the Knot. y j an . 



In Massachusetts the adult birds first make their appearance 

 from the middle to the last of July on their southern migration, 

 the height of their abundance being about the first of August ; 

 the latest I have heard of the adults being taken (an adult male) 

 was October 6, 1887, at Monomoy Island, Cape Cod, with two 

 exceptions, when on Dec. 28, 1879, during a thick snowstorm, 

 Mr. Lorenzo Hamilton of Chatham, Mass. (now living at 

 Billingsgate), shot eight old, deep red-breasted birds near 

 Chatham Light from a flock of twenty, all of which had deep red 

 breasts. On Feb. 22, 1892, he also shot two old deep red- 

 breasted birds (all there were) at Billingsgate, Cape Cod. The 

 young gray-and-white birds appear while making their southern 

 migration during the latter part of August to September 10; and 

 the latest I have heard of their being taken was October 5 ; they 

 generally move south late in September. 



In the spring during migration northward some few early birds 

 appear about May 12, and they continue coming, and remain 

 until the first week in June, when all the birds have passed 

 north. I have known of good shooting on June 3, but the 

 height of abundance used to be the last few days in May. The 

 most favorable time to expect them at this season is during fine, 

 soft, south to southwest weather, and formerly they could be 

 expected to pass in numbers between M»y 20 and June 5. In 

 former times, when such conditions prevailed, thousands col- 

 lected on Cape Cod, when they would remain from a few days to 

 a week before resuming migration. 



That the Knot can withstand our winter climate is shown by 

 the fact that I shot on a shoal adjacent to Muskeget Island, Mass., 

 on March 19, 1890, two Knots, one of which (a male) was saved 

 and is now in the collection of Mr. William Brewster. There 

 had been three in all, and they were all in the gray and white 

 plumage; the one skinned was very fat. The day on which I 

 shot them the most severe northeast snowstorm of the winter 

 prevailed. They had been living in this locality the greater 

 portion of the winter, being observed from the middle of Jan- 

 uary up to the time they were shot. I was informed, however, 

 that none had been noticed in this locality at this season before. 

 On January 12, 1S79, Mr. Outram Bangs of Boston noticed a 

 female in the gray and white plumage hanging in a bunch of 

 Purple Sandpipers {Tringa maritimd) in a stall in Faneuil 



