3 o8 OUTDOOR LIFE IN ENGLAND 



ture headland, when it might, from the motion of 

 its tail, be mistaken for one of the wagtails, and 

 this peculiarity serves to distinguish it from the 

 other sandpipers. These birds have been, during 

 the past spring (1895), remarkably numerous on 

 the stream which runs close to my house, and 

 I have seen as many as three and four pairs of 

 them in the course of an afternoon, doubtless 

 nesting under the leaves of the plant called the 

 butter-burr, which grows in profusion in some of 

 the meadows, and which they are said to avail 

 themselves of for the purpose. In flight this 

 bird conveys the impression of being much larger 

 than it is, it measuring no more than seven and 

 a half inches in length. It is plentiful in the 

 Southern and Eastern counties, and especially so 

 in the North, Scotland, and Wales. The plumage 

 is thus described : Upper parts of a greenish- 

 brown, flecked and barred with brown, the outer 

 tail-feathers tipped with white, and with black 

 bars ; chin and under parts white, neck and 

 breast ash-colour, with darkish streaks. 



The knot, which is a winter visitor to this 

 country, arriving in the autumn and departing in 

 the spring, is more or less plentiful during that 

 period on the mud-flats and sand-banks of England, 

 especially those on the East coast. It is also said 

 to visit the Solway in great numbers, though less 

 generally distributed in Scotland than in the other 

 parts of Great Britain and Ireland. Its name is 

 said to have been derived from King Canute, or 



