The Sandpipers. 
1 
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The Knot. 
tail-feathers do not protrude beyond 
the others, so that the tail is square, 
not pointed as in the Dunlins. The 
breeding-home of the Knot is in the 
Arctic Regions, but, although nestlings 
were procured by Colonel Feiklen in 
Grinnell Land, the eggs are still un- 
known, though there is one in the 
British Museum from Greenland, which 
seems to be fairly well authenticated. 
It is of an olive stone-colour, blotched 
and spotted with reddish brown, black 
and grey ; the length is a little over 
an inch-and-a-half. 
The Knot migrates in company, and is often associated with Dunlins on the mud- 
flats. It visits Africa and India, and even Australia in its winter migration, as 
well as South America, but many remain in more northern haunts and winter 
on the English coasts. 
In these birds the bill is longer than the tarsus, and the tail 
is graduated and pointed, the centre feathers exceeding the others 
in length. In summer the Dunlin has a black breast, this being 
white in winter. It nests on the moors in the South-west and North of England, as 
also in Scotland and Ireland. 
In autumn and winter it is very plentiful on the mud-flats and the shores of all 
our coasts. It also nests throughout Northern Europe and Northern Asia, as well as 
in North America, wintering as far south as the West Indies and California, and in 
the Old World visiting the Mediterranean countries, the Red Sea, and the coasts 
of India and China. 
THE DUNLIN. 
(Pelidna alpiua.) 
Of all our Wading-birds the Dunlin is 
the most common and easy to observe, and 
it may be noticed in large flocks on the 
mud-flats, or on the beach when the tide 
is full. The nest is a little depression in 
the ground, with a lining of grass, roots, 
or moss, and is generally well concealed 
by overhanging grass or heather. The 
eggs are four in number, and pear-shaped ; 
they vary in colour from stone-grey or 
greenish- grey to chocolate, with the usual 
blotches and spots of reddish-brown, 
black and grey. 
The Dunlin. 
