THE KNOT. 55 



another specimen, in full plumage, killed by a boy on 

 Portobello Sands by the same means/ 1 



M. Temminck says the Knot is seen in spring and 

 autumn in Holland, but that it is rare in Germany, France, 

 and the more southern portions of Europe, and is seen, but 

 very rarely, at Sicily and Malta. I am unable to trace it 

 as going to the eastward, but Mr. Blyth has obtained it in 

 the vicinity of Calcutta. 



A male in perfect summer plumage obtained from Yar- 

 mouth so late in the season as the 25th of May 1820, and 

 from which the figure in the front of the illustration here 

 given was drawn, has the beak black ; the irides hazel ; 

 cheeks and round the eye chestnut red, with a few dark 

 brown spots between the beak and the eye, and on the 

 ear-coverts ; the forehead, top of the head and the back of 

 the neck reddish brown, streaked with dark brown ; back, 

 scapulars, smaller wing-coverts and tertials black, margined 

 with reddish brown and white ; greater wing-coverts ash 

 grey; primaries greyish black, with white shafts; second- 

 aries edged with white ; rump and upper tail-coverts 

 white, tinged with red, with crescentic bars of black and 

 edged with white ; tail-feathers ash colour, darker near the 

 margin, and edged with white ; chin, neck, breast, and 

 belly nearly uniform rich reddish chestnut ; flanks, vent, 

 and under tail-coverts white, tinged with red and spotted 

 with black ; legs, toes, and claws, bluish black. 



The whole length of an adult bird ten inches ; from the 

 carpal joint to the end of the first quill-feather, which is the 

 longest in the wing, six inches and a half. 



Young birds of the year in autumn have the upper 

 surface of the body ash grey, each feather with two narrow 

 half circular bands near the end, the first of greyish black, 

 the ultimate band buffy white, later in the season pure 



