KNOT 311 



eaten. In summer this species has been found feeding 

 on Saxifraga oppositifolia (Col. Feilden). 



Though often sluggish on foot, yet when searching for 

 food the Knot displays as great activity as many other 

 wading-birds. Large nocks usually gather along the edge 

 of the ebbing tide where the birds may be seen running 

 to and fro in search of food, some members of the flock, 

 now and again, taking short flights along the strand. 

 Concerning the habits when feeding the late Mr. E. 

 Williams writes : " I observed a very tame immature 

 Knot on August 12th, 1900, on the Dublin coast. I crept 

 so near it that I could plainly see its buff-coloured breast 

 and upper feathers edged with golden-yellow. The bird, 

 which was alone, was exceedingly active, advancing and 

 retreating as the wavelets broke on the silvery beach. 

 Sometimes it hurried into the water, wading up to its 

 breast, quickly darting back again to the beach to catch flies 

 which swarmed on the decaying seaweed. I was surprised 

 at the activity of the bird on foot." 



Voice. A soft and rather muffled grunt, sounding like 

 the syllables kmct or knot, may be heard in autumn and 

 winter, both when the birds are on the wing and when 

 feeding on the beach. 



Nest. Until recently little was known about the nest 

 and eggs of the Knot. Its breeding-haunts, in the far north 

 of Greenland and Arctic America, have been reached by 

 several explorers, but from these countries specimens of the 

 eggs do not appear to have been secured. " The earlier 

 explorers," says Mr. Saunders, " found birds on Melville 

 Peninsula, and abundantly on Melville Island, one of the 

 North Georgian or Parry group ; but no eggs are known to 

 have been brought back. On July 30th, 1876, Col. Feilden, 

 naturalist to H.M.8. ' Alert,' obtained a male and three 

 nestlings near a small lake on Grinnell Land in lat. 

 82 83' N., while Mr. Chichester Hart, naturalist to H.M.S. 

 ' Discovery,' had captured a brood of four in lat. 81 44' on 

 the llth, and three more were taken next day : a beautiful 

 group of the old and young being in the British Museum. 

 A bird obtained by Gen. Greely near Discovery Harbour 

 contained a hard- shelled egg ; the Peary Expedition of 1892 

 found the species evidently breeding ; and a female " with 

 full-sized yolks " was shot at Point Barrow, Alaska, on 

 July llth." 



In the Taimyr Peninsula, Walter found the Knot " by no 



