
OBSERVATIONS ON THE KNOT ( TRINGA CAN- 
UTUS) . 
BY GEORGE H. MACKAY. 
This bird, which formerly sojourned on these shores in great 
abundance, and occurs now to a limited extent during its migra- 
tions, has been the subject of considerable inquiry as to the 
cause of its appearing now in such reduced numbers. As each 
contribution to the subject may add something in assisting correct 
conclusions I have ventured to present the following resume, 
especially of the habits and movements of this bird during its short 
stay in Massachusetts while on migration. The Knot, Red 
Breast, or Robin Snipe, is cosmopolitan in its migrations, 
visiting various portions of either hemisphere. Little is known, 
however, of its breeding places, and authentic eggs are almost 
entirely unknown in collections. Lieut. Greely is reported to 
have discovered an egg with the bird in the vicinity of Fort 
Conger, in Lat. 8i° 33' (Auk, II, 313). It has been found 
breeding along the shores of Smith’s Sound and the north coast 
of Grinnell Land. Sabine in 1820 found it nesting in great 
numbers on Melville Island, and in Parry's first voyage he found 
it breeding on the North Georgian Islands. Capt. Lyons also in 
1823 found it breeding on Melville Peninsula. On July 30, 1876, 
Mr. Henry W. Fielding noted an old bird with three nestlings 
at Knot Harbor, Grinnell Land (Baird, Brewer and Ridgway, 
Water Birds, Vol. I, p. 214). On the west coast of the Pacific 
it migrates as far south as Australia and New Zealand to winter, 
passing Japan and China. It also winters in Damara Land, 
Africa, and in America has been taken as far south as Brazil. 
The American bird differs only in size from the Japanese bird 
( Tringa crassirostris ) , which is larger (Seebohm’s Plovers, 
pp. 421,424). It is abundant during migrations on the coast of 
British Columbia (‘Check List of British Columbian Birds,’ by 
John Fannin). Mr. Ernest E. Thompson (‘Birds of Manitoba’) 
also notes it as a spring migrant in Manitoba. Messrs. Sclater 
and Hudson make no mention of it in their ‘Argentine Ornithol- 
ogy,’ so if it reaches the southern portion of the South American 
continent it has escaped their observation. 
4 
Albinistio Plumages. B.Deate, 
31. Tringa canutus. Bed-breasted Sandpiper. — An instance of 
albinism cited in the “ Zoologist,” Vol. IX, 1851, p. 3116 ( Merrill ). 
Bull. N, O.O. 5, Jan., 1880, p. 26 
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