The Knot 
“Knots have swept down the roaring coasts for centuries, but the 
mystery was, Where do they come from? Sir So-and-so was charged to 
bring back with him from the algid North, along with sundry information 
about the tides, and temperatures, and short cuts to China, a set of 
Knot’s eggs; but he came back empty-handed. Grizzled sea-captains 
said, ‘Lo, here! lo, there they breed’; but the eggs were not forthcoming. 
Finally, it was left for our own Lieutenant Greely to bring back the first 
authentic specimen, one taken near Fort Conger, lat. 8i° 44', North, 
together with the parent bird. Verily, if we were Knots, even baby Knots, 
we might stand some show of reaching the North Pole” (The Birds of 
Ohio). 
The Robin Snipes are found chiefly coastwise, and they are, or were, 
very much more common on the Atlantic seaboard than along our shores. 
But there is a favored spot in Alameda County, a part of the San Fran¬ 
cisco Bay shore, which appears to have been a major station for these 
birds from time immemorial. Here they have been seen by the score, 
perhaps hundreds, during both the spring and fall migrations; whereas, 
save for Fannin’s brief comment, 1 “Abundant during migrations,” our 
records of this bird’s occurrence on the Pacific Coast seem to be most 
meager, and those concerned with chance individuals or very small com¬ 
panies. There are half a dozen records for the coast of California; and 
I have noted the bird twice at Santa Barbara: once on August 29th, 1911, 
two immature birds; and on May 1st, 1913, a single individual in winter 
(or immature) plumage. 
Knots move about, now singly, or in small flocks, and may be found 
on the mud flats as well as on the sandy beaches. The plain dark colora¬ 
tion of an adult does not attract attention at a distance, but it is often 
associated in feeding and in flight with more brightly colored birds, 
notably the Turnstone (Arenaria inter pres). It is, moreover, one ot the 
least suspicious of the larger Shore-birds, and decoys readily to any 
whistle of its genus, even though the gunner be standing in plain sight. 
The bird feeds chiefly upon acjuatic insects, crustaceans, and small 
bivalves. These it secures chiefly from the wake of the receding wave, 
but it swims also with ease, and does not fear a little buffeting on the part 
of the racing “hurry-back.” At high tide it cheerfully retires to the 
marshes and probes for its food in the more open places. 
The record of human dealings with this gentle, trustful Northlander 
is an altogether sad one. According to Mr. George H. Mackey, our 
highest authority on the species, Knots used to rise from the bay shores of 
Massachusetts “in clouds.” Twenty-five thousand was a sober estimate 
of the number to be seen at a given station in one season in the middle of 
1 “Catalogue of British Columbia Birds,” Victoria, 1904, p. 21. 
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