306 
SCOLOPACID^. 
islets. I have hitherto been unable to obtain the eggs, but have 
met with the young more than once in the month of June. When 
in flocks, these birds fly in a compact body, but seldom to any 
great distance ; and, when disturbed, after taking a small circuit 
seaward, often return to the same exposed rock by the water^s 
edge, from which they started. They feed on marine insects, 
such as onisci, small cancri, and on bivalve mollusca, &c., which 
they seek for by turning aside the fronds of the ulvse, and other 
maritime plants that grow on the rocks. Their cry is feeble, and 
not unlike the word weety weet, frequently repeated. In spring, 
they sometimes associate with the turnstones [Strepsilas interpres) 
which affect the same localities. 
The purple sandpiper is a native of North America, and breeds 
commonly within the arctic circle there as well as in Europe. 
^ THE KNOT. 
Ash- coloured Sandpiper. 
Tringa canutus, Linn. 
„ cinerea, Brunn. Temm. 
Is very common in the oozy and soft sandy bays through- 
out autumn and winter : but retires to northern 
latitudes to breed. 
Of all the Scolopacidce, which visit us in great numbers, this species 
appears to be the most restricted to localities of a particular 
nature — and on some parts of the coast is never met with. The 
adjoining marine loughs of Larne, Belfast, and Strangford, with 
their extensive muddy zostera-covered banks and soft sands, suit 
the knot — or dunne, as the bird is called here by the shooters — 
admirably, and it is consequently abundant in these places. The 
minute mollusca on which it chiefly feeds are the great attraction, 
more especially the Paludina wAiriatica, Lam., which is only less 
* Illust. Brit. Omit. vol. ii. p. 151. 
