GRALLATORES. 387 



[1-55.] 9. Tringa cinerea. (Linn.) The Knot. 



The Knot (Avis canuti). Edw., pi. 276 ; winter. 



Tringa canuta, islandica, cinerea, australis, naevia, grisea. Gmel. Syst. 



Red Sandpiper (Tringa islandica). Penn. Arct. Zool., ii., p. 476, No. 392. 



Ash-coloured Sandpiper ( Tringa cinerea). Idem, No. 386. Wils., vii., p. 36, pi. 57, f. 2.* 



Red-breasted Sandpiper (Tringa rufa). Wils., vii., p. 43, pi. 57, f. 5. 



Becasseau canut ou Maubeche {Tringa cinerea). Temm., ii., p. 627- 



Tringa cinerea. Sab. Greenl. Birds, p. 533 ; Suppl. Parry's First Voy., p. cci. Richards. Append. 



Parry's Second Voy., p. 355. 

 Tringa islandica. Bonap. Syu., No. 256. 



The Knot breeds on Melville Peninsula and in other parts of Arctic America, 

 and also in Hudson's Bay, down to the fifty-fifth parallel. It lays four eggs on 

 a tuft of withered grass . they are, according to Mr. Hutchins, of a dun colour, 

 fully marked with reddish spots. 



DESCRIPTION 



Of a specimen, killed on Melville Peninsula, in July, 1821. 



Colour. — Head and neck above and scapulars blackish-brown, edged on the tips with 

 greyish-white, and blotched laterally* with reddish-orange. Rump clove-brown, edged with 

 grey. Tail coverts banded with greyish-white and blackish-brown. Greater quills blackish- 

 brown ; rest of the wings and tail broccoli-brown ; lesser coverts fringed with greyish-white, 

 their shafts blackishf , borders of the middle pair of tail feathers darker, their extreme edges, 

 like those of the lateral feathers, fringed with grey : all the shafts of the quills and tail white. 

 Superciliary stripe and under plumage reddish-orange, the sides of the neck and breast having 

 blackish-brown centres ; vent and tail coverts brownish-white, with a few scattered blackish 

 marks. 



Form. — Bill somewhat longer than the head, straight, rather stout ; its ridge depressed or 

 flattened before the nostrils, and its width very slightly increased. Tail equal to the wings, 

 square, or having a tendency to be doubly notched. Toes quite free. 



Inch. Lin. Inch. Lin. 



1 3 Length of middle toe .0 10 



.1 4i „ of middle nail . 2 



12 ,, of hind toe and nail 2 



* M. Temminck quotes this figure as " ne diffirant en rien des jeunes Maubeches tuts en Europe ;" but the form of 

 its bill is very different from that of the Red-breasted Sandpiper on the same plate, also referred to by him as a repre- 

 sentation of the same bird in its summer dress. The bill of the Red-breasted Sandpiper is dilated at the point, thus 

 agreeing with one of the specific characters of T. cinerea, Temm. The Southern Sandpiper ( T. australis), which 

 Latham, in his Synopsis and Supplement, states to be found in Cayenne and Hudson's Bay, is quoted by authors as a 

 synonyme of Tr. cinerea, but evidently improperly. The description of the plumage is so general, that it will apply to 

 several species ; but the dimensions of the Cayenne bird (eleven inches total length) are much greater than those of 

 Tringa cinerea. 



f One or two of the intermediate coverts in this specimen are coloured with reddish-orange blotches like the sca- 

 pulars, showing that the bird was moulting when killed. 



3 D 2 











Dimensions. 







Inch. 



Lin. 





Igtl 



i, total 



. 9 



6 



Length of bill above 



55 



of tail . 



. 3 







,, of bill to rictus 



59 



of wing 



. 6 



6 



,, of tarsus 



