98 BIRDS OF ALABAMA 



aid of Ridgway's Manual. On Dauphin Island, July 5, 1913, 

 I collected two adult birds (male and female) from a flock of 

 Limnodromtts g. griseus. 



STILT SANDPIPER: Micropalama himantopus 

 (Bonaparte) . 



Stcde records. — The stilt sandpiper is usually considered a 

 raire or irregular migrant in the eastern United States, but 

 at times it may be observed in some numbers. The only record 

 of its occurrence in Alabama is furnished by F. W. McCor- 

 mack, who observed four birds at Leighton on a number of 

 days between August 17 and September 6, 1892. One speci- 

 men was shot and carefully identified. 



General habits. — This sandpiper often associates with lesser 

 yellowlegs, which it somewhat resembles in habits and general 

 appearance. The birds observed by McCormack frequented 

 the muddy margins of ponds in cultivated fields, wading about 

 in shallow water and probing in the mud like snipe. 



KNOT; ROBIN SNIPE: Caiidris canutus rufus (Wilson).* 



State records. — ^The knot is considered rare oii the Gulf 

 coast, except in Florida. There are only a few records from 

 Alabama. On Dauphin Island, I collected a specimen. May 

 19, 1911, and another, July 5, 1913. Peters observed a flock 

 of about 30 and collected two specimens there, June 3, 1914. 

 On Petit Bois Island, August 29, 1911, Outsell secured one 

 which was feeding with several dowitchers and two or three 

 more of its kind. 



General habits. — This snipe is found about sandy beaches 

 and mud flats along the shores of the Gulf. It is strongly 

 gregarious and often occurs (at least formerly) in flocks of 

 considerable size; it associates on friendly terms with turn- 

 stones, black-bellied plovers, and various species of sand- 

 pipers. Its notes are described as a soft whistle of two 

 syllables and "a single note resembling a little fc(mfc."t 



Food habits. — Toe knot feeds on marine insects and their 



'Tiines eanutos of the A. O. U. Cheek-list; for chance of name see The Aok, roU 

 34, p. 200, 1917 ; and vol. 40, p. 616, 1928. 



tMackay, G. H., The Auk, vol. 10, p. 27, 1893. 



