Knot. 433 



penham Bridge, and was taken to Mr. Dangerfield, bird-preserver 

 of that town, who at once wrote to Colonel Ward to come and 

 see it, which that gentleman did, and secured it for his own col- 

 lection. This was in July, 3869, when it should have been breed- 

 ing in more northern latitudes; but, strange to say, several of the 

 occurrences recorded in England bear the date of July. Hitherto 

 this species has contrived to elude the sharp eyes of ornithologists 

 when searching for its nest, and its eggs have never been dis- 

 covered, and are quite unknown to science. Mr. Seebohm, indeed, 

 confidently hoped to add this to the other laurels he gained in his 

 famous journey to Siberia, but the Curlew Sandpiper baffled him, 

 and he came home without accomplishing that portion of the 

 task he set himself to fulfill.* In Sweden it is known as Bdg- 

 ndbbad Strand-Vipa. 



164. KNOT (Tringa canuta). 



This is in my judgment one of the most excellent birds for the 

 table : nor am I singular in that opinion ; for however little 

 known to modern epicures, it derives its name, Latin as well as 

 English, from the famous Danish King Knut or Canute, who had 

 an especial liking for the flesh of this, the most delicate perhaps 

 of all the well-flavoured family to which it belongs. It has, how- 

 ever, been suggested that the name may be derived from its 

 littoral habits, in allusion to the story of Canute's celebrated 

 reproof to his courtiers ; but I prefer the other derivation. It is 

 strange how the eggs of this bird are still absolutely unknown to 

 science, and how curiously they have eluded discovery. Swedish 

 and Norwegian naturalists considered that they bred on the 

 higher fjelds in the more northern parts of Scandinavia, within 

 the Arctic Circle, but even Wolley failed to discover their nests 

 there. When the famous Arctic Expedition of 1875-76, under 

 Captain Nares, attained the high latitudes to which the Alert and 

 Discovery penetrated, Captain Markham wrotef that in August, 



See his ' Siberia in Europe,' p. 233 ; also his ' British Birds,' vol. iii., 

 p. 181. 



f 'The Great Frozen Sea,' p. 127. 



28 



