214 THE KNOT. 



of which, along our coasts, is the Purre, or Dunlin, 

 or Stint, of British authors. 



The Knot, or Red and Ash-coloured Sandpiper, 

 does not, as far as is known, breed in England ; nor 

 is it so regular an attendant upon our maritime coasts 

 as the beautiful purre : but at times it visits us in 

 great numbers. The seasons for its accustomed 

 appearance are autumn and winter. Its summer 

 and winter plumage, of respective red and ashy hues, 

 has assisted in its various nomenclature ; and its 

 primeval estimation as a tit-bit for the palate of our 

 northern invader and conqueror, Canute, procured for 

 it its present familiar name of knot, as before stated. 

 It is a fen bird, frequenting saline marshes, where it 

 follows the retiring tides, and delighting in the soft, 

 oozy mud of such localities, where it feeds almost 

 regardless of danger, although, at times shy and 

 difi&dent of approach. Knots stay on our shores 

 sufficiently long to change their summer dress. The 

 tops of the rocks, in the different bays and estuaries 

 in Scotland and Ireland, are sometimes, at fullest 

 tide, covered with them. Here they will sit, and 

 rest the live-long day, or until the waves recede 

 sufficiently for them to pursue their search for food. 

 Jardine says, he procured many specimens of them 

 in Holy Island, on the coast of Northumberland, 

 with stones merely; as they will, shortly after their 

 migration, allow themselves to be approached within 

 the distance of a few yards. He also states, •' that 

 the nests are placed under, or by the side of, some 



