388 VERTEBRATE FAUNA OF LAKELAND 



the birds lifted here and there, the Knots being obliged to keep 

 inside the Oystercatchers, as being shorter in the leg ! Now 

 they rose in a swarm and pitched a few yards nearer to the 

 shore ; anon they rose on the wing and exhibited their aerial 

 evolutions like a well-drilled squadron, hanging in the air like 

 a swarm of bees, forming into a triangle, now lapsing into a 

 dense mass, the twinkling effect produced by the beating of so 

 many pairs of wings impressing the mind with a bewildering 

 sensation. A few manoeuvres performed, the Knots returned, 

 but this time to pitch a few yards further away, for the tide 

 had turned; a few minutes more and the receding waters 

 allured them to descend the firth ; the right-hand detachment 

 of Oystercatchers followed in their wake. A few Knots linger 

 beside the left wing of Ostralegus ; the loud piping of the Sea- 

 pies was agreeably varied by the shrill cries of the Knots. A 

 Curlew waded jauntily outside the black throng of birds, which, 

 no longer content to rest, head drawn within the shoulders, 

 were keenly watching the departure of the tide. Long before 

 the waters had left the sand high and dry, the hungry birds 

 rose and departed to their favourite mussel scars. Wading out 

 into the shallows, we saw many small parties of Knots pass, all 

 flighting down the channel to some well-known rendezvous ; a 

 few of the number crossed over to us from the Scottish side of 

 the firth. The experience just described has been repeated 

 many times; on December 21, 1889, when shooting on Skin- 

 burness marsh, we watched two large flocks of Knots looking 

 very silvery as they swept up and down the united waters of 

 the Wampool and Waver estuary, now in a compact mass, now 

 spreading into a long thin line, then reuniting into an opaque 

 cloud of birds, anxiously waiting for the retiring waters to lay 

 bare their favourite feeding-grounds, notably those at Beckfoot. 

 Mr. Nicol has killed eighty-four Knots at a shot as early as 

 September 16, but generally gets his best shots at the close of 

 the season; on the 31st of February 1888 he shot one hun- 

 dred and eight birds at a shot, all of course for the market. 

 At the end of November 1889 Messrs. Law and Nicol con- 

 jointly shot over five hundred Knots with their punt guns. 

 But Knots are on the whole most numerous in the month of 



