36 KNOT. 



dozen have been taken at once. They are kept without 

 much difficulty in confinement. 



They ny with much power, and with little apparent exertion, 

 straight forward, with regular strokes of the wings, and 

 commonly not high above the surface. On the ground they 

 also move about nimbly. 



They feed on marine insects and their larva?, and the smaller 

 shell-fish. These they seek for early and late in the day, and 

 during moonlight nights, reposing, or moving about but little 

 while the sun is up. 



The note is only a 'twee, twee,' expressed in a sharp high 

 tone. 



A tuft of grass serves as a depository for the eggs. 

 They are stated to be four in number, of a light yellowish 

 brown colour, marked at the larger end with grey and reddish 

 spots, forming more or less of a belt, and less spotted towards 

 the smaller end. 



Male; weight, about four ounces and a half; length, towards 

 ten inches; bill, dusky black at the tip, fading into reddish 

 at the base; between it and the eye is a dusky streak, and 

 a white one over the eye in winter. Iris, hazel; forehead, 

 reddish brown streaked with dark brown, in winter white; 

 head on the sides, chesnut red with a few dark brown spots 

 before and behind the eye, in winter the former colour 

 becomes white; on the crown, neck on the back, and nape, 

 reddish brown, streaked with dark brown or black, and 

 interspersed with specks of white, in winter light brownish 

 grey with the shafts of the feathers darker, and so on the 

 front and sides of the neck. Chin, throat, and breast, rich 

 reddish chesnut, in winter white, the latter slightly streaked 

 across with grey, and waved with the same on the sides. 

 Back, blackish on the centre of the feathers, which are barred 

 and varied with reddish brown, and margined and tipped with 

 white, in winter it is greyish ash-colour with the feather 

 shafts darker, the lower part white. 



The wings have the first quill feather the longest; they 

 extend in their stretch to one foot seven inches; greater 

 wing coverts,x greyish ash-colour, in winter tipped with white, 

 forming a bar across the wings when extended; lesser wing 

 coverts, dusky black with reddish brown and white margins 

 to the feathers, in winter greyish ash-colour, and the white 

 tips form a bar across the wing. Primaries, greyish or 

 brownish black, with broad white shafts, the inner webs 



