KNOT. 
I4I 
limits of the Arctic Circle. Captain Parry’s adventurous party 
found it breeding on Melville Peninsula and in other parts 
of those hyperboreal regions, as on Seal Islands, probably, 
near Chatteux Bay, as well as in the vicinity of Hudson Bay 
down to the 55th parallel. It is also supposed to breed in 
Denmark and in the Orkney Islands. It is likewise met with 
in Iceland, on the shores of the Caspian, and on the banks of 
the Don and Choper in Russia; and continuing eastward 
towards the American continent, in that direction, is again 
found in Siberia, and on the other side of the boreal circle at 
Nootka Sound. 
About the middle of August, flocks of the Knot, still clad in 
their nuptial and summer plumage, appear on the shores and in 
the marshes at the eastern extremity of Massachusetts Bay, 
particularly around Chatham and the Vineyard. In many, 
however, the moult of autumn has already commenced ; but in 
the nearer vicinity of Boston, flocks of the young only are seen 
disguised in the elegantly marked and sober gray of winter. 
When not harassed, they are by no means shy, allowing of a 
pretty near approach while busily and sedately employed in 
gleaning their food along the strand, chiefly at the recess of 
the tide, where, in friendly company with the small Peep and 
other kindred species, the busy flocks are seen gleaning up the 
rejectamenta of the ocean, or quickly and intently probing the 
moist sand for worms and minute shell-fish, running nimbly 
before the invading surge, and profiting by what it leaves be- 
hind. They seem like a diminutive army, marshalled in rank, 
and spreading their animated lines, while perpetually engaged 
in an advance or retreat before the break of the resounding 
and ceaseless waves. Bred in solitudes remote from the 
haunts of men, the young, in particular, seem unconscious of 
danger from the fowler, and a flock may sometimes be succes- 
sively thinned by the gun, till the whole are nearly destroyed ; 
when wounded, however, they take to the water and swim with 
ease. 
On the coast of New Jersey and other parts of the Middle 
States they arrive in October, and are seen along the strand 
