M ti l ni
Genus CALIDRIS.
Gen. Char. Beak mediocral, rounded, rather slender, flexible, above sulcated, its tip depressed,
smooth and dilated. Nostrils linear, placed in a long groove. Feet four-toed ;
the toes margined and cleft ; the hinder toe with its tip alone resting on the ground.
KNOT.
Calidris canutus, Briss. et Cuv.
Le Bécasseau Canute.
A l th o u g h the Knot does not make the British Islands a place o f permanent residence in which to incubate
and rear its young, yet it is abundant on its passage both during its equinoctial and polar migration. While
on the latter journey, it visits our island in the month o f May, at which time many individuals have almost
entirely gained the full plumage o f summer, so much so, as to lead us to suppose that they would remain on
our shores to breed ; a supposition which is strengthened by actual dissection ; still, however, we have no
undoubted facts upon which to assert that such a circumstance has occurred. Leaving our shores after a
short sojourn, they pass northwards to their arctic breeding-places : this duty accomplished, they commence
their migration southward, visiting our island again in their passage, when many remain the whole o f the
winter, during which they live congregated in flocks on the borders o f the sea, but giving the preference to
marshy and fenny countries in their native latitudes for the purpose o f incubation. While they make this island
their asylum, numbers are annually taken, either in nets or by the gun, for the purposes of the table. In the
London markets they may be generally met with in the spring, and during the whole o f the winter.
The Knot is not only common in the arctic regions o f the Old World, but is equally so in the northern
portions o f America, extending throughout the whole o f the circle ; its southern migrations seldom exceeding
the latitudes o f the Mediterranean,
We know o f no birds in which the great difference between the stages o f plumage in winter and summer
has led to so much confusion and the creation o f so many synonyms : an examination o f individuals in every
stage o f plumage, from the greyish white o f winter to the fine brownish red o f summer, has clearly satisfied
us that they are specifically the same. Independently o f the great dissimilarity o f colour which the adult Knot
exhibits at these opposite seasons o f the year, the young possess a colouring distinct from either, the ground
o f which nearly resembles the plumage of winter, but every feather on the upper surface is edged at its tip
with two crescents, the outer one white and the inner one black, producing a most beautifully barred appearance
: under surface buff colour. Concerning the nidification of the Knot we have been able to collect
no information whatever.
The two sexes are alike in colouring, or, i f there be any difference, the female is the finest in colour and
the largest in size.
In summer, the whole o f the upper surface is o f a reddish brown, the top o f the head and back o f the
neck being marked with small longitudinal streaks o f black, while each feather on the back and wings
has a central dash o f the same colour branching out into irregular bars on the wings; quill-feathers and
tail blackish brown ; the whole o f the under surface is o f a brick red ; bill green at the base, black at the
tip ; legs greenish olive ; irides dark brown.
In winter the whole o f the upper surface is o f a fine ash grey ; the quills and tail brownish black ; the
breast and whole of the under surface white, flanks and sides o f the chest being variegated with longitudinal
and arrow-shaped marks o f brown.
The Plate represents an adult bird in the summer and winter states o f plumage o f the natural size.