216 The Zoologist— May, 1866. 



Knot. — There have been some large flocks of knots on the flats 

 during the month, as well as a considerable increase in the number of 

 wild fowl visiting the Humber. On the 16lh of March I observed 

 knots, dunlins, ringed dottprells, curlews, bartailed god wits, gray plovers 

 and blackheaded gulls feeding on the fore-shore, and a large flock of 

 widgeons on the water. With a good telescope there is no difficulty 

 in making out the various species of birds on the flats, and on a clear 

 day the least variations in plumage are distinguishable. When knots 

 and dunlins are feeding together the knots may be known, not only by 

 their size, but also by the grayer tint of the plumage: at this season the 

 under parts of dunlins look pure white, while in knots the same parts 

 are gray. Knots keep much closer together when feeding than 

 dunlins, the latter birds rambling wildly about, constantly crossing and 

 recrossing each other's tracks, while knots generally feed giving straight 

 forward, and not far from the edge of the water, their heads being all 

 turned in the same direction. While lately watching a large flock of 

 these birds feeding on the fore-shore I observed one which, instead of 

 running after the manner of its kind, got over the ground by hopping; 

 the other leg was drawn up, and the foot hung dangling by th§ shin, 

 probably having been cut through by a single shot; the poor bird 

 had a very singular appearance thus hopping along like a great thrush ; 

 in other respects it did not appear to suffer from the mutilation, as it 

 kept constantly plunging its bill into the soft " warp," all the time, 

 after its own fashion, keeping well up with its companions. When 

 knots are feeding they walk with the legs very much bent and the 

 head thrust forward, after the manner of a waterhen, giving them 

 somewhat of a squat appearance. In the illustration of this bird, as 

 given in Morris's 'Ornithology,' the attitude is admirably true to 

 nature. Gray plovers walk with the legs nearly erect, and the body 

 carried horizontally ; the head is drawn in, giving the bird a somewhat 

 dumpy and thick-necked appearance. When feeding they walk 

 slowly forward for a iew paces, rapidly stoop and pick up some object 

 from the mud, without, however, thrusting their bill into the ooze ; 

 then for a time remain perfectly motionless, as if watching to see 

 whether they are observed, their wonderfully sharp eyes looking like a 

 large bright black bead; then they move slowly forward again for a kvf 

 paces and repeat the process. They have none of that bustling 

 activity so characteristic of knots and dunlins, and are at all times a 

 shy, wild, and suspicions bird. 



Bartailed Godwit. — Several bartailed godwils on the fore-shore 



