CHARADRIID^ TRINGA 405 



5'. Smaller, wing under 4'0 ; tarsus equal to the 



middle toe and claw T. ininuta, p. 406. 



B. Bill slightly deourved towards the tip ; upper tail- 

 coverts white T, subarquatat'g. 408. 



746. Tringa canutus. Knot. 



Tringa canutus, Linn. Syst. Nat. 12th ed. i. p. 251 (1766) ; Gurney, Ibis, 

 1868, p. 260 [Walviseh Bay] ; id. in Andersson's B. Dmnaral. p. 306 

 (1872) ; Dresser, B. Etir. viii, p. 77, pis. 555-6 (1877) ; Sharpe, ed. 

 Layard's B. S. Afr. p. 683 (1884) ; Seehohm, Geogr. Distr. Charadr. 

 p. 422, with fig. (1888) ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 593 (1896) ; 

 Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 191 (1896); Reichenoiu, Fo^. 4/';-. i, p. 229 (1900). 



Description. Adult in non-breeding plumage. — Above ashy-grey, 

 uniform except for a iew dusky bars on the rump ; upper tail- 

 coverts white, barred with black ; greater coverts tipped with white ; 

 quills dusky-brown, the shafts white ; the inner primaries and 

 secondaries margined with white ; tail ashy-grey with white shafts 

 and margins ; forehead and patch above the ear-coverts white, lores 

 dusky-grey ; sides of the face and below white ; the sides of the 

 face and neck, breast and flanks with small spots or bars of brown ; 

 axillaries white with a few dusky bars. 



Iris dark hazel ; bill and feet black. 



Length about 10-0 ; wing 6-4 ; tail 2-5 ; tarsus 1-2 ; culmen 1-3. 



In the breeding plumage the back and head are mottled with 

 black, chestnut and a little white ; beneath the whole of the under 

 surface of the body is rich chestnut, including the eyebrow and 

 sides of the face. 



Distribution. — Hitherto very few absolutely authentic eggs of 

 the Knot have been obtained, but there can be no doubt that it 

 breeds in North Greenland and other parts of Arctic America, as 

 well as in the Taimyr Peninsula in Siberia (c/. Ibis, 1904, p. 232) 

 and passing south on migration, winters in Southern Asia, Australia, 

 South America and Africa. 



The Knot is not a common bird anywhere in Africa ; it has been 

 noticed on the Gambia and the Gold Coast in the west, and in the 

 Nile Valley in the east, while in South Africa the only authentic 

 record of its occurrence is that of Andersson, who obtained two 

 specimens at Walviseh Bay in Damaraland on October 20 and 

 November 4, 1863. Layard states that Verreaux informed him that 

 he had shot Knots in Algoa Bay, but no one appears to have met 

 with this bird within our limits since. 



