80 



of the Polar basin in summer, where it must breed abundantly. My utmost endeavours failed 

 to procure the eggs of this species. The young bird in down, accompanied by the old male, was 

 procured on the 3rd July 1876, in lat. 82° 27' N. ; and others were captured at Discovery Bay, in 

 lat. 81° 44' N." 



In Iceland, Professor Newton writes (Notes on Orn. Icel. p. 14), " this bird arrives late in 

 May ; and Faber considers that it breeds on the uplands, a supposition which I consider very 

 probable. However, Mr. Fowler, whose attention I particularly called to it before he started for 

 Iceland, says : — ' I had my eyes very wide open for this bird. I never once got a glimpse of it, 

 and do not believe in its existence in the island at the breeding-time, at any rate inland. Though 

 I questioned the natives very closely, I could hear no tidings of it.' On the south-west coast it is 

 very well known as a bird of passage. One morning, at the end of May 1858, I found the shore 

 at Kyrkjuvogr literally alive with a large flock of Knots, all in their beautiful red plumage. 

 There had been none there the day before. They stayed about a week, their numbers gradually 

 diminishing until at last only two or three were to be seen. This is one of the birds possessing 

 great interest to the oologist ; for, I believe, no collector has well-authenticated specimens of its 

 eggs. Notwithstanding Mr. Fowler's evidence, I still conceive it possible that a few pair may 

 remain to breed in the island, though undoubtedly the majority pass on to Greenland, or perhaps 

 to land further north of which we have no knowledge." It visits the Fseroes during its spring 

 and autumn passages, and is found on the coasts of Scandinavia. Mr. Robert Collett informs me 

 that it visits the west coast of Norway on passage, but is found in large numbers only in a few 

 favourite localities, and he met with it in vast flocks in August and September on the low portions 

 of Jgederen, near Stavanger, most of them still in full summer dress. In the spring it is much 

 less numerous on the Norwegian coasts ; and in the northern portions of the country it is not at 

 any season of the year common. According to Professor Nilsson it occurs all along the coasts of 

 Sweden, but always in small numbers, during the two seasons of passage. In Finland it is rare, 

 being only met with as a straggler on the south coast. Tengstrom says that one was shot at 

 Helsingfors long ago; and Mr. Fristedt obtained one there on the 2nd of August 1859, this 

 latter being the only specimen in the Finnish collection. It appears to be rare in Northern 

 Russia, and was not observed on the Petchora by Messrs. Seebohm and Harvie-Brown ; but I am 

 informed by Mr. Leonida Sabanaeff that it occurs near Moscow in August ; and he adds that it is 

 found in the Ural, in the Pavdinskaya Dacha, where it is said to breed (1), and occurs in the 

 Ekaterinburg district on passage. 



Borggreve says that it occurs regularly and commonly on the coasts of Germany on passage 

 and in winter, but is somewhat scarce in the Baltic, and very rare in the interior. Mr. A. von 

 Homeyer says (J. f. O. 1864, p. 218) that he shot a Knot in a field fully four German miles 

 from the sea, on the 15th of October, at Vorland, near Grimmen, in Pomerania, and saw two 

 others at the same time. In Denmark it occurs rather sparingly than otherwise on passage ; and 

 the same may be said respecting its occurrence in Holland and Belgium. It is also met with on 

 the French coasts ; and Messrs. Degland and Gerbe state that on the coasts of Picardy, and near 

 Dunkerque, it is to be met with during about five months out of the twelve — from April to the 

 end of May, and from August to the end of October. Mr. Adrien Lacroix says that it is met 

 with in the French Pyrenees only accidentally during winter after severe storms ; and it appears 



