SHORE BIRDS 221 



polygamous, and in spring assumes a remarkable collar 

 or ruff of feathers, which is singularly inconstant in 

 colour, two birds seldom being found alike in this 

 respect. These birds are capital eating, and more than one 

 hundred years ago they were netted by hundreds in the 

 Fen country, both in spring and autumn, and fattened up 

 for the table. Doubtless this constant persecution and 

 drain upon their numbers has led to the present 

 scarcity of these birds. Length of Ruff, about I2jin. ; 

 the Reeve is some 2 in. shorter ; weight of the former is 

 about 6 oz. in its wild unfattened condition ; the Reeve 

 weighs one-third less. 



THE KNOT, Tringa canutus, is said to have been a 

 favourite dish of King Canute more than eight centuries 

 ago., hence its name. From the later weeks of summer 

 onwards through the autumn, Knot are frequently to be 

 met with in hundreds along our eastern seaboard and 

 elsewhere in suitable situations in these islands. They 

 are fine birds, and consequently are a good deal sought 

 after by the market shooters. In the Wash district of 

 Lincolnshire, where they are plentiful, I have heard 

 them commonly styled "Plover-Knot." Length, 10 in. ; 

 weight reaching 6 oz. in birds of good condition. 



THE DUNLIN, Tringa alpina, one of the least and 

 also the commonest of our shore birds. It is miscalled, 

 variously, sand- and sea-snipe ; in Essex it goes by the 

 name Ox-bird, and further north is termed Stint. From 

 August throughout the autumn vast gatherings of 

 Dunlin, thousands strong sometimes, may be observed 

 wheeling and circling over the sand or mud-flats along 

 the coast. From the ease with which they may be 

 approached, and the constant practice they afford, these 



