212 APPENDIX. No. III. 



in Discovery Bay (lat. 81 44' N.) The rills and marshes 

 were by this time frozen, and the birds were feeding along 

 the shore on the small crustaceans so common in the Arctic 

 Sea ; in pursuit of their food they ran breast-high into the 

 water. By this date they had lost their breeding-plumage. 

 On June 5, 1876, when camped near Knot Harbour, Grrinnell 

 Land (lat. 82 33' N.), we noticed the first arrival of these 

 birds ; a flock of fourteen or more were circling over a hill- 

 side, alighting on bare patches, and feeding eagerly on the 

 buds of Saxifraga oppositifolia. Subsequently we met with 

 this bird in considerable numbers ; but they were always very 

 wild and most difficult of approach. The cry of the knot is 

 wild, and something like that of the curlew. Immediately 

 after arrival in June they began to mate, and at times I 

 noticed two or more males following a single female ; at this 

 season they soar in the air, like the common snipe, and when 

 descending from a height beat their wings behind the back 

 with a rapid motion, which produces a loud whirring noise. 

 During the 'month of July my companions and I often 

 endeavoured to discover the nest of this bird ; but none of us 

 were successful. However, on July 30, 1876, the day before 

 we broke out of our winter-quarters, where we had been 

 frozen-in eleven months, three of our seamen, walking by the 

 border of a small lake, not far from the ship, came upon an 

 old bird accompanied by three nestlings, which they brought 

 to me. The old bird proved to be a male ; its stomach and 

 those of the young ones were filled with insects. The 

 following description of the newly-hatched birds was taken 

 down at the time : Iris, black ; tip of mandibles, dark 

 brown ; bill, dark olive ; toes, black ; soles of feet, greenish 

 yellow ; back of legs, the same ; underpart of throat, satin- 

 white ; back, beautifully mottled tortoise-shell. Dr. Cop- 

 pinger informed me that this bird was not uncommon at 

 Thank Grod Harbour during July. In the first week of 

 August I saw family parties of knots at Shift-Eudder Bay 

 (lat. 81 52' N.) ; they were then in the grey autumn plu- 

 mage. The knot bred in the vicinity of Discovery Bay ; but 



