KNOT 363 



edges of tide creeks, and other places, exactly as they do in their passage 

 south or north in middle latitudes. They have the same unsuspicious ways 

 here as there . . . (Nelson, 1887, p. 101). 



According to McAtee (1911a) the following items have been found 

 in the food of the Dowitcher: Adult and larval horseflies, grass- 

 hoppers, and oyster-worms {Nereis). Leeches, worms of various sorts, 

 various water bugs, and soft moUusks comprise the chief elements of 

 the food inland (Coues, 1874, p. 479). 



The Long-billed Dowitcher was probably somewhat more abundant 

 formerly in California than it is at present. This is indicated by the 

 fact that Cooper (in Baird, Brewer and Ridgway, 1884, I, p. 200) 

 records their being sold in the markets of Los Angeles in 1865 in 

 bunches as "jack snipe." Nowadays it is usual to see only a small 

 flock of at most two dozen individuals. The Dowitcher, along with 

 most of the other shore birds, needs total protection for a considerable 

 period, and should, thereafter, if again placed on the open list, be 

 further guarded by a small bag limit. 



Knot 



Tringa canutus Linnaeus 



Othee names — Kobin Snipe; Eed-breasted Snipe. 



Description — Adult male in spring and summer: Upper surface of head, 

 hind neck, and region between base of bill and eye, streaked with pale smoke 

 gray and olive black; dull stripe from base of upper mandible over eye to 

 above ear, and cheek, chin, and middle throat, light cinnamon brown, with 

 some whitish f eather-tippings ; bill black; iris "dark hazel" (Audubon, 1842, 

 V, p. 257) ; feathers of back with broad irregular centers of olive black, 

 margined with grayish white, some with side spots of pale tawny; feathers of 

 rump light brown, with shafts and margins of darker brown, the extreme tips 

 margined with white; upper tail coverts white with irregular crescentic bars of 

 dark brown; tail drab above, narrowly margined with white; outer surface of 

 closed wing dull drab near bend, lighter behind; median and lesser coverts 

 margined with light drab; greater coverts margined with white, forming a 

 narrow wing bar; primaries brownish black, quills of all, and outer margins and 

 tips of inner ones, white; secondaries and tertials dark brownish near shaft, 

 lighter toward margin, some edged with white; margin of wing mottled white 

 and dusky; under surface of wing mixed white and light dusky; under surface 

 of primaries drab becoming brownish black at tip; axillars white with irregular 

 narrow bars of light brown; under surface of body (except belly and under 

 tail coverts), bright cinnamon brown, with sparse flecking of white; sides 

 and flanks inconspicuously and irregularly barred with light brown; belly 

 and under tail coverts white, some of the feathers with darker shaft streaks 

 or spots near tip and pale cinnamon wash; feet greenish black. Total length 

 10.00-10.90 inches (254-277 mm) (two specimens); folded wing 6.53 (165.6); 

 bill along culmen 1.38 (35.2); tarsus 1.27 (32.3) (one specimen). Adult female 

 in spring and early summer: Like adult male in corresponding plumage but 



