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PRiECOCIAL GRALLATORES — LIMICOLiE. 
markable rapidity. When it stops it crouches for a moment ; and this movement 
occasions its local name of “ Crouching-chicken.” The number visiting Trinidad is 
not large. 
The Knot is regarded as an excellent bird for the table, and its good qualities 
have long been known ; the name — as is said by Pennant — having been derived 
from King Canute, or Knut, by whom its excellence was particularly appreciated. 
Genus ARQUATELLA, Baird. 
Arquatella, Baird, B. N. Am. 1858, 717 (type Tringa maritimci, Brunn.). 
Char. Form very compact or robust, the legs especially. Tarsus shorter than the middle toe 
with claw, the latter two thirds to three fourths as long as the bill, which is slender, much com- 
pressed, straight, or very slightly decurved at the end. Size medium (wing less than 6 inches). 
By the characters given above, this species may be very readily distinguished from Tringa, the 
nearest ally. The species of Arquatella are subject to seasonal changes of plumage which have 
been very perplexing to ornithologists, the summer and winter dress of the same bird being totally 
unlike, while that of the young is different still. 
Three species of this genus belong to North America. Another species, the Tringa crassirostris, 
Temm. & Schleg., of Japan and other parts of Eastern Asia, may belong to this genus, but we 
have seen no specimens. 
The three species belonging to our fauna may be distinguished as follows : — 
Com. Char. Summer dress : Back and scapulars variegated black, rusty-ochraceous, or buff, 
and buffy white, the first in the form of sharply defined spots occupying the central portion of 
each feather, the rusty or buff forming a wide external border, the whitish the tips of the feathers, 
the latter color sometimes scarcely present or altogether wanting. Rump and upper tail-coverts 
nearly uniform dusky ; wings dusky, the coverts bordered with whitish, the greater coverts tipped 
with the same, and the inner secondaries chiefly white. Lower parts chiefly white, the breast 
variegated with dusky, this sometimes forming more or less of an irregular patch. Winter 
plumage : Above nearly uniform plumbeous, the feathers of_ the back and scapulars darker cen- 
trally, and showing faint purplish reflections in certain lights. Jugulum chiefly light plumbeous 
or grayish, the feathers with whitish borders. 
1. A. maritima. Breeding dress: Pilemn streaked with yellowish gray, or grayish white; 
scapulars and interscapulars irregularly spotted and indented with dull buff, or whitish, and bor- 
dered terminally with white ; foreneck and jugulum distinctly streaked with dusky, the breast 
dull grayish, everywhere spotted with darker. Winter dress: Back and scapulars sooty black 
strongly glossed with purplish, the feathers bordered terminally with dark plumbeous gray; jugu- 
lum uniform mouse-gray, or brownish plumbeous. Young, first plumage : Scapulars, interscapulars, 
and wing-coverts bordered with pale grayish buff, with little or none of rusty. Chick : Above 
hair-brown, lighter and grayer on the nape, the brown irregularly marbled with black, the wings, 
back, and rump thickly bespangled with white downy flecks ; head grayish white, tinged with 
fulvous, variously marked with black, the lores having two distinct longitudinal, nearly parallel 
streaks; lower parts grayish white, without fulvous tinge. Average measurements of 13 adults: 
Wing, 5.06; culmen, 1.20; tarsus, .99; middle toe, .90. Hub. Northeastern North America, 
Europe, etc. 
2. A. Couesi. Breeding dress : Pileum streaked with deep rusty ; scapulars and interscapulars 
broadly bordered with bright ferruginous ; foreneck and jugulum irregularly clouded with dull 
pale buff or soiled white and sooty plumbeous, the breast more coarsely clouded, with more or less 
of a black patch on each side. Winter dress : Similar to A. maritima, but with the plumbeous 
borders to dorsal feathers broader and lighter, or more bluish, in tint ; jugulum streaked or other- 
wise varied with white. Young, first plumage : Scapulars and interscapulars conspicuously bordered 
with bright rusty, ochraceous, and whitish ; wing-coverts broadly bordered with buffy white or 
pale buff; breast and sides buffy white, distinctly streaked with dusky. Chick: Above bright 
