48 



have come marbled with grey, black, and more yellow than in 

 young bird's first plumage. The yellow is marbled, and not 

 spotted, as in the young bird's first plumage. 



It is difficult to reduce to writing what one wishes to point out 

 concisely. I have one of the larger young Knots (which I con- 

 clude are females) I shot at Skinburness Sept. 10, 1844, edged 

 all over the back with grey, and again with white, without a 

 trace of buff colour. Then, again, I have the smaller bird, which 

 I conclude is the male, quite buff,* much more strongly marked ; 

 even the centres of the scapulars are marked with buff and 

 darker grey markings than the edgings. I take these as my 

 types, on shooting several, I have placed the larger and smaller 

 separately, and I generally found the larger the paler birds. I 

 admit I never dissected these young birds, but I have dissected 

 the old birds in spring, when it is easy to determine the sex ; but 

 to do this with the young birds wonld require a much more 

 scientific anatomist than I pretend to be, as it is no easy matter 

 to do so. 



Audubon mentions his surprise at the difference in the size of 

 these birds he killed from the same flocks. Should Mr. Booth 

 come into this neighbourhood, I will gladly show him the birds 

 from which I have drawn my conclusions. He mentions the 

 appearance of young Knots so early as the 8th of July.f This is 

 really most interesting, as it proves the bird to be an early breeder 

 somewhere or other. We naturally supposed all Arctic birds 

 were late breeders ; from such an early appearance, it is impos- 

 sible they can be the young of the birds only going north in the 

 middle of May, so that there must be an earlier migration. In 

 September, 1866, 1 wrote in The Field about the Godwits, Knots, 

 and Grey Plovers which had wintered in this northern district, 

 leaving so early in the spring, before acquiring their summer 



* I have very considerable doubt whether some of these very rich buff 

 linl-i have not been mistaken for the American Buff-breasted Sandpiper: 

 few persons not very well acquainted with the species would take them for 

 Knots. 



f Could these be birds of the former year? 



