The Knot 
No. 236 
Knot 
A. O. U. No. 234. Canutus canutus (Linnaeus). 
Synonyms.— Robin Snipe. Gray Snipe.; 
Description.— Adult in summer: LTpperparts light gray, streaked centrally 
with black (narrowly on crown and nape, broadly on back and scapulars), and varied 
irregularly with some ochraceous buff; primary coverts and primaries blackish, the 
latter with white shafts; upper tail-coverts with subterminal U- or V-shaped markings 
of dusky; tail uniform grayish brown; underparts in general pale cinnamon-rufous; 
cheeks and superciliary region washed with same, and dusky-streaked; paler or white 
on belly; crissum, under tail-coverts, thighs, lining of wings, and sides white,—the 
last two and sides of breast more or less dusky-barred. Bill and feet greenish black. 
Adult in winter: Above plain ashy gray; upper tail-coverts and tail as before; under¬ 
parts white; the sides of neck, fore-neck, and chest with faint dusky streaks, or irregular 
bars, and the sides similarly barred. Immature: Above, ashy gray, mottled with 
dusky on crown; with whitish edging and narrow submarginal dusky on feathers of 
back and scapular region; the fore-breast flecked or streaked, but not barred, with 
dusky; otherwise much as in winter plumage adult. Length 254-279.4 (10.00-11.00); 
wing 165.1 (6.50); tail 58.7 (2.31); bill 34 (1.34); tarsus 31.2 (1.23). 
Recognition Marks. —Robin size; called “Robin Snipe” from the cinnamon- 
rufous of breast (in summer); the largest of the Tringa; found coastwise. 
Nesting. —In highest Arctic latitudes. Eggs (As described by Mr. Ludlow 
Griscom from set taken by Elmer Ekblaw, of the American Museum of Natural History 
Expedition to Crocker Land): 4; white as to ground, strongly or weakly washed with 
olive-green, splotched and spotted thickly with olive-brown, chiefly at larger end. 
Av. size 46.6 x 30.4 (1.83 x 1.20). 
General Range. —Circumpolar; in migrations south, chiefly along the sea coasts 
to extremities of the continents, New Zealand, Australia, etc. Not commonly found 
in the interior of North America nor along the Pacific Coast. 
Occurrence in California. —Of irregular occurrence during migrations, coast¬ 
wise. Sporadically common. 
Authorities.—Townsend ( Tringa canutus), Proc. Lb S. Nat. Mus., vol. x., 1887, 
p. 198 (Humboldt Bay); Bowles and Howell, Condor, vol. xiv., 1912, p. 8 (Santa Bar¬ 
bara; migr. dates); Grinnell, Bryant, and Storer, Game Birds Calif., 1918, p. 363 (desc. 
occurrence, habits, etc.). 
“WHEN King Canute, or Knut, had dined on a dish of strange coast- 
faring birds, he was gracious enough to express to his blushing chef the 
royal appreciation of the flavor. Whereupon the eager courtiers dubbed 
the waders Knuts, or Knots, and so they have come down to us—at least 
so Pennant says; and Linnaeus, not over-serious (he was a busy man with 
all of Adam’s task to finish) accepted the tradition in ‘ Tringa canutus.' 
It is certainly fitting that these birds of the farthest north should bear the 
name of some hardy Norseman. 
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