Crass Il. KNOT SANDPIPER. 
These birds, when fattened, are preferred. by 
some to the ruffs themselves.. They are taken 
in great numbers on the coasts of Lincolnshire, 
in nets such as are employed in taking rufts ; 
with two or three. dozens of stales of wood 
painted like the birds, placed within: fourteen 
dozen have been taken at once. Their season 
is from the beginning of August to that of No- 
wember. ‘They disappear with the first frosts. 
Camden* says they derive their name from king 
Canute, Knute, or Knout, as he is sometimes 
called; probably because they were a favourite 
dish with that monarch. We know that he kept 
the feast of the purification of the Virgin Mary 
with great pomp and magnificence at Ely, and 
this being one of the fen birds, it is not unlikely 
but he met with it there.t Shakespeare, in his 
Othello, speaking of Roderigo (Gf Mr. Theobald’s 
reading is just) makes thet Knot an emblem of 
a dupe: 
‘ T have rubb’d this young Kuot almost to the sense; 
_ *© And he grows angry.” - Othello. - 
* Camden Brit. 971. 
+ Dugdale on embanking, 185. 
¢ Modern annotators substitute “‘ quat,” a provincial word 
for, ‘*a pimple.” Eb. 
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