32 



Mackay on the K?iot. ^ Jan. 



the literature of the subject that the adults assume what is desig- 

 nated as the winter plumage, that is, gray above and white under- 

 neath, similar to the plumage of the young birds. I can but 

 believe that such statement is an error of long standing, it being 

 my conviction that such gray and white plumage is confined 

 exclusively to the younger birds, and is retained by them in vary- 

 ing stages up to three or four years of age, or in other words 

 until such time when they change it (never to reappear in it) 

 for that which is known as full spring plumage. I have yet to 

 see what I understand to be an old bird, from any locality in any 

 season, in the gray and white plumage. Lest I may be misinter- 

 preted, permit me to add that as these birds do not, in my 

 opinion, reach the height of their plumage until they are three 

 or four years old my remarks apply only to birds of that age or 

 over. Mr. Geo. A. Tapley of Revere, Mass., who is a close 

 observer and has shot as many of these birds as any one in 

 Massachusetts, and whose shooting experience extends over a 

 period of about fifty years, informs me that he has in the past 

 shot in every year a good many old birds in full plumage on 

 Cape Cod, Mass., in August and September. He says he never 

 saw what he calls an old bird in the gray and white plumage. 

 Mr. S. Hall Barrett of Maiden, his fellow sportsman and of the 

 same number of years' experience, reiterates Mr. Tapley 's state- 

 ments, and I am myself in full accord with both. Owing to the 

 variation of plumage a large series of these birds is imperative in 

 order to arrive at satisfactory results. 



After examination of thirty-eight specimens of adult Knots, 

 twenty-four of which were females, I came to the conclusion 

 that there is no constant feature in the plumage of either sex, 

 whereby they can be distinguished one from the other by the 

 ordinary observer, both sexes varying considerably. Some of 

 the females have no red on the back and scapulars, others have a 

 little, and still others as much as the males. In this respect the 

 males are much more constant in their plumage than the females 

 appear to be. In size both sexes are apparently alike. The 

 lower parts of adult birds of both sexes, from the bill to the 

 abdomen, are of a dark vinaceous cinnamon varying in intensity. 

 An examination of eighteen specimens of what I understand as 

 the younger birds, shows their upper parts to be, in general, gray, 

 with the neck, breast, and sides gray, streaked with V-shaped 



