THE KNOT. 
309 
the singularity of the scene may readily be imagined. The 
gulls, too, were conspicuous for two miles, though appearing 
gradually smaller as they dotted the more distant beach. The 
light was of such a nature, that while each knot and dunlin 
looked silvery white, every gull appeared of the purest snowy hue. 
The numbers of these birds — different from the Scolopacida 
generally — are as great in the north of Ireland in winter as in 
autumn. I never knew of more to be seen in Belfast Bay at any 
period than in December and January of different years. In 
Strangford Lough they are, from its comparative quietude, still 
more abundant. It is rarely that any returns can be had thence, 
but during a week spent there by a wild-fowl shooter in Bebruary 
1846, they were in extreme profusion; and were again so 
during the first week of March 1847. The noise of their wings 
wheu passing over my informants head was compared to the 
rushing sound of a tempest. At night, on the latter occasion, 174 
were bagged from one shot of a swivel-gun, and these were ob- 
tained by firing across the flock when on the ground ; two or 
three times that number would probably have been killed had the 
Hock been fired at lengthwise. All of this great body were 
perfectly silent (doubtless awaiting the falling of the tide to lay 
bare their feeding-ground), and the shooter knew nothing of their 
proximity until those nearest to him rose to fly away. 
They retire northward early in the spring : the latest date 
before me of any Hock being seen is March 24, 1837. I once saw 
a single bird on the 1st of May, but though apparently sound 
in wind and limb,"’^ it had probably met with some accident. 
The knot is rarely obtained in Belfast Bay in autumn with 
the red plumage on the breast and belly indicative of the nuptial 
season. A few birds displaying it came under the notice of Dr. 
J. D. Marshall, in the autumn of 1828. On the 2nd of Sep- 
tember, 1845, three individuals in this plumage alighted within 
a very few yards of a shooter. One obtained so late as the 22nd 
of September (1835) came under my own notice; as did another 
killed on the 16th of August (1848) : both are preserved in the 
