SANDPIPER. 257 



Knot, Gen. Syn. v. 187. Br. Zool. ii. No. 193. Id.fol. 123. pi. C. 2. f. 1. /d. 1812. 

 ii. p. 76. Flor. Scot. i. 34. pi. 3. Arct. Zool. ii. No. 384. Will. Engl. 302. pi. 

 56. 1. Edw. pi. 276. Bewick, ii. pi. p. 75. Lewin, v. pi. 178. /(/. pi. xxxii. 

 1. — the egg. Orn. Diet, if Stipp. 



LENGTH nine inches, weight four ounces. Bill one inch and 

 a quarter, dusky ash-colour; irides hazel ; from the bill to the eye a 

 dusky line ; over the eye a white one ; top of the head, neck, back, 

 and wing-s, ash-colour; lower order of coverts tipped with white, and 

 edged a little way up with the same, forming a bar on the wing ; 

 greater quills darker, with white shafts ; lower part of the back and 

 tail coverts dark ash-colour, mixed with white, forming crescent-like 

 spots; tail ash-colour; beneath from chin to vent white, but the 

 throat and breast are marked with small dusky spots ; and the sides 

 under the wings, belly, thighs, and vent, crossed with dusky lines; 

 ridge of the wing white ; legs bluish ash-colour. 



This bird varies. That in the Br. Zool. has the forehead, chin, 

 and neck before, cinereous brown ; back and scapulars brown ; the 

 feathers margined with ash-colour ; tail ash-colour, the outer feather 

 on each side white ; toes divided to the bottom : other trifling Varie- 

 ties are now and then observed. 



The Knot frequents the Coasts of Lincolnshire, in great numbers, 

 and caught in nets by means of stale birds ; fourteen dozen have 

 been thus taken at once ; the season from August to November. 

 They in general disappear with the first frosts, yet Edward's bird 

 was bought in a London market in the hard frost 1740 ; and it is 

 said, that Knots are taken in nets, near Fossdyke, in great numbers 

 during winter, but that they disappear in spring.* They are silly 

 birds, even to a proverb,t very little deception being necessary . to 



* Tour in Scotl. 1764, 4to. p. 13. f The later commentators of Shakespear, 



have chosen to find out the meaning of this illustrious author, in giving this bird, as the 

 emblem of a dupe. In the play of Othello, when speaking of Rodrigo— 



" I have rubbed this young Knot almost to the sense, 

 " And he seems angry."— Theob. Edit. ; and in another line— 

 VOL. IX. L L 



