THE KNOT. 215 



tuft or bush of grass, or herbage : often ingeniously 

 concealed, but exhibiting little workmanship, except 

 a little hollowing and pressing of the dried grass to 

 the bottom." The entire length of these birds is 

 about seven inches and a half; their breasts are fat 

 and fleshy, and wliere they pick up abundance of 

 food, they become an edible almost as appetising as 

 the reeve. 



After incubation, we find the plumage of a 

 prevalent reddish orange ; .the sides of the head 

 are slightly spotted with a brownish black, while the. 

 crown and back of the head have the feathers broadly 

 streaked with the same tints. The middle of the 

 back, scapulars, and long tertials are of a dark 

 brown, save where, broadly margined with a buff 

 orange colour, or irregularly notched with yellow 

 white. The under parts are pure white, with small 

 dark markings in centre ; the quills dark brown, 

 paler on the inside ; the shafts w r hite and broad. 

 The tail is brown, tinted with green and brown. 



Generic characters of Tringce : bill of the same 

 length, or slightly longer than the head, often gently 

 curved, soft and pliable ; wings rather long, sharp 

 pointed, the first quill longest ; tarsi and feet of 

 middle length ; toes slightly joined at the base, and 

 narrowly fringed on the edges with a membrane ; 

 hallux small, articulated on the tarsus. Types : T. 

 Canutus, variabilis, maritima, &c. Gregarious in 

 winter. Cosmopolite. 



As we have said, the Purre, or Dunlin, is the most 



