306 BIRDS OP DAMARA LAND. 



361. Tringa canutus (Linn.). Knot. 



Calidris canutus, Gould's Birds of Europe, pi. 324. 

 Tringa canutus, Layard's Cat. No. 620. 



This species is of rather rare occurrence on the coast 

 of Damara Land ; the few that I observed there were 

 generally associating with flocks of Sanderlings, Curlew 

 Sandpipers, and Little Stints along the shallows in 

 Walwich Bay. The Knot feeds on aquatic insects, in 

 search of which it will wade knee-deep in the water. 

 Its flesh is good eating. One of my specimens has the 

 breast and part of the belly rufous. 



The iris is dark, the bill very dark olive, the legs of a 

 somewhat similar hue but more or less tinged with 

 yellow. 



[I examined two specimens of the Knot obtained by Mr. 

 Andersson in Walwich Bay ; one of them, killed on October 20th, 

 retained some remains of the breeding dress j the other, which 

 was obtained on November 4th, showed scarcely any. — Ed.] 



362. Tringa subarquata, GUld. Curlew Sandpiper. 



Tringa suharquata, Gould's Birds of Europe, pi. 328. 



Peliilna subarquata, Strickland & Sclater, Birds Damar., Contr. Oi'n. 



1852, p. 159. 

 Tringa subarquata, Layard's Cat. No. 621. 



Numenius jyygmceus, Chapman's Travels in S. Afr., App. p. 420. 

 Tringa subarcuata, Finsch & Hartlaub's Vogel Ost-Afrika's, p. 761. 



The Curlew Sandpiper is the commonest Tringa at 

 Walwich Bay and all along the lagoons and shallows 

 of the south-west coast, where it ranges southward to 

 Table Bay. It congregates in flocks, often of many 

 hundreds, and not unfrequently in company with the 

 Little Stint and the Sanderling. 



