SNIPES, SANDPIPERS, ETC. 



157 



ground, flying only as a lust resort, and then darting swiftly away 

 with a sharp tweet, tweet. 



834. Trimg^ canutus Li/m. Kxot; Kobix Smi>k; Gkay Rmpe. 



(See Fi{j:s. 2;"), i, M,b.) Ad. in nunimrr. — Upper purts burred and streaked witli 

 blaek and white and rufous; tail ashy gray, narrowly margined with whitish ; 

 under parts dull rufous; lower belly white or wJiitish, sides soiuetiuies with 

 blaek burs. (According to George II. Mackay, it requires about four yeura 

 for binls to acquire this plumage. See Auk, x, l»y3, p. 25.) /m. — Upper parts 

 plaui brownish gray ; up[>er tail-coverts burrod with black und white, tail 

 brownish gray ; breast und sides barred with V)lack, belly white. Yountj. — 

 Upper parts pale brownish gray; head streaked with blackish; back, wing- 

 coverts, und scapulars with distinct bluck and white bordei's; upper tail-cov- 

 erts barred with bluekisli ; tail ashy gray, narrowly margined with white; 

 under parts white ; breast finely streaked or !<i)otted with blackish ; tianks 

 burred or streuked with blackish. L., 10-50; W., tJ-75; Tar., 1-20; B., l-.W. 



liaiiije. — Northern hemisphere, breeding within the Arctic Circle, und in 

 America wintering from Floridu to South Americu. 



Long Island, not uncommon T. V., May 15 to June 10; July 15 to Nov. 



E(jgs, known frcjin only one specimen collected in the vicinity of Fort 

 Conger by General Greely, and described lus" I'.giit pcu-green, closely spotted 

 with brown in snudl specks ubout the size of a pinhead," 1"10 x 1-00 (,seo 

 Merriam, Auk, ii, 1885, p. 313). 



Knots feed along the beaches on the small crustaceans and nu)l- 

 lusca brought in by the waves, and they also frequent muddy places, 

 where, like the trne Snipe, they probe the ground for food. They 

 decoy with ease, "bunching" so clo>oly as they wheel into the stools 

 that the entire flock is sometimes killed by a single discharge. Mr. 

 George IT. Mackay. in one of his careful and detailed studies of our 

 Shore Birds, describes their notes as a soft UHih-qiioit and a little hank. 

 The first is particulnrly noticeable when flocks are coming to the de- 

 coys (see Auk, x, 18fl3, pp. 25-35). 



236* Trillj^ maritima Brihtn. Piupf.e SvNnpirER. Ad. in mnn- 

 mer. — tapper parts bluck, margined with oohracoous-hutf und cream-bntf; 

 winirs fuscous-gray, greater coverts muru'incd with white and some seconiln- 

 ries entirely white; upper tnil-eoverts /'(//fcoww, outer tail-fi'athers ashy gray, 

 inner ones fuscous; tliroat and brenst brownisii gray, streaked with bluck; 

 belly wliite, sides and under tail-eoverts streaked with brownish gray. Wln- 

 ti'r pjiirnntfi'. — lleud. neck, breast, and sides asliy. tlie two latter mariritied 

 with wliite ; buck fuscous, murffined with ushy ; wiuL's fuscous, the coverta, 

 Becnnduries, und tertiuls distinctly bordered with white; iijipcr tull-eovorta 

 and middle tuil-feutliers bluck or fuscous, outer tail-feathers ashy ; l)elly and 

 linintrs of the wings white. L.. 0-00 ; W., 5(>o ; Tar.. O-oo ; Ii., 1-40. 



RemarlcK. — The brownish gray or ashy breast of this species is a good 

 distinguishing eharacter. 



Range.— '■^ Northern portions of the northern hemisphere; in North Amer- 



