42 BIRDS OF ILLINOIS. 



alternately the upper and the lower parts. On foot it moves more 

 like a Curlew than a Tringa, and is more sedate in its motions 

 than the true Sandpiper. At times, on being approached, it 

 will squat on the ground after the manner of the Esquimaux 

 Curlew. Its flesh is said to be extremely delicate. In the 

 stomachs of those he killed he [Audubon] found small worms, 

 minute shell-fish, and vegetable substances, among which were 

 hard seeds of some unknown plant. He found great differences 

 in the color of the plumage of those he killed. He adds that 

 its passage through the United States is ver3^ rapid, both in 

 spring and in autumn. A few are said to spend the winter in 

 lower Louisiana, but nearly all pass on southward beyond Texas." 



Genus TRINGA Linn.eus. 

 Subgenus Tringa. 



Tringa Linn. S. N. ed. 10, 1758. 148; ed. 12, 1706. 247. Type. T. canutus Linn. 



Chab. Body robust; bill and legs short, the former straight, widened terminally, and 

 scarcely longer than the head; tarsus about equal to the bill; or a little shorter; middle toe 

 about two-thirds the tarsus. Wings long and pointed, reaching beyond the end of the tail. 



The above characters separate at once this subgenus from 

 Arquatella, the one most nearly related, but which has the bill 

 much more compressed, slightly but decidedly decurved toward 

 the end, and much longer than the tarsus; the latter scarcelj^, 

 if any, longer than the middle toe; the wings shorter, etc. 

 The single species, T. canutus, is the largest of American Sand- 

 pipers. 



Tringa canutus (Linn.) 



KNOT. 



Popular synonyms. Robin Snipe ; Knot Sandpiper ; Red-breast(adult) ; Gray -back (young). 



Tringa canutus LiNN. S. N. ed. 10, 1758, 149; ed. 12. 176(), 251.— Cass, in Baird's B. N. Am. 



1858, 715.— Baied, Cat. N. Am. B. 1859, No. 52(;.— CouES, Key, 1872, 256; Check List, 



1874. No. 426; 2d ed. 1882. No. 626; Birds N. W. 1874,490.- Ridqw. Nom. N. Am. B. 1881. 529; 



Man. N. Am. B. 1887, 153.— B. B. & R. Water B. N. Am. i, 1884. 211.— A. 0. U. Check 



List, 1886, No. 234. 

 Tringa cinerea BnuNN. Orn. Bor. 1764, 53.— Wils. Am. Orn. vii, 1813, 36, pi. 57, fig. 2.— 



Sw. & Rich. F. B.- A. ii, 387.-Nutt. Man. ii. 1834. 125. 

 Tringa islandica Gmel. S. N. i, 1788, 682.— AuD. Orn. Biog. iv, 1838, 130, pi. 315; Synop. 



1839, 232; B. Am. v, 1842, 2.54. pi. 328. 

 Tringa rufa Wils. Am. Orn. vii. 1813. 43, pi. 57. flg. 5. 



Hab. Chiefly northern portion of the northern hemisphere, but occasionally visiting 

 the southern hemisphere during winter migration; chiefly httoral, but occurring also on 

 the larger inland waters. Brazil; Australia; New Zealand. 



