58 WILD-FOWL AND SEA-FOWL OF GREAT BRITAIN 



most costly fowling-piece will not get you a shot at 

 fowl ; but the fowlers can and will procure this 

 for you, if you do not air " book-larnin' on birds " 

 before them. 



I have known some men to be placed in very 

 awkward predicaments by this kind of thing ; once 

 let it get hinted that a "knowin' cruiser" is about 

 and the job is done. Something is sure to happen, 

 even when the gun is raised to the shoulder, to 

 spoil the shot. A plank pulled on one side of a 

 marsh-cut, for instance, is a serious matter in the 

 dusk for those who get there, for the mud sticks. 

 Class your birds at home, after you have got them, 

 or the fowlers have got them for you. When I 

 was younger, I was guilty myself of leaving one 

 person in a very queer fix for knowing more about 

 fowl than I did, after he had got me to go out with 

 him. 



THE KNOT 



{Tringa canutus.) 



Male. — The bill is greyish-black, margins at the 

 base of bill reddish. The upper part of the head, a 

 band from the bill to the eye, the hind-neck, fore-part 

 of back, scapulars, and wing coverts are ash grey; 

 the middle of each feather is dark grey. The hind- 

 part of the back and upper tail coverts are white, with 

 curved bands of black ; the tail ash grey, the lower 

 parts white ; cheeks and fore-neck greyish, marked 

 with dark grey lines ; legs and feet greyish-blue. 



