placed out, they declined to settle, and continued sweeping round, the Plovers calling loudly. Doubting
whether a better cbauco to secure the specimen previously noted would 1)0 obtained, I waited for a
time, following their movement* with the big gun, till itt last they drew together in the act of turning
nt the distance of about seventy yards. The trigger happening to he pulled at the enact moment, every
bird, when the smoke which had drifted into our eyes cleared oil', was discerned stretched out on the
mud; hut a single cripple succeeded in regaining its legs. Though the whole number (three (jodwits,
five Plovers, and six Knots) were in full breeding.plumage, the Knot far exceeded any specimen I had
previously seen in the richness of the tints on the back and the deep colouring of the uuderparts. As
I bad passed during the two seasons of 1S71 and 197:1 ou an average between ten and twelve hours a
day ou the mudflats all through May, it is unlikely that any large number of Waders escaped notice.
Ou the Sussex coast for several years this species has been exeeediugly scarce in spring, the greater
numlwr probably passing nt sea. Fishermen frequently reported large Indies of Knots as well as other
Waders having been seen at some distance out in the Channel making their way due east. While fishing
on May 1.1th, 1990, wind light and easterly, six or seven miles off Shorebam, I watched several flocks
flying cast shortly before dusk. On the 11th of May, 1SS2, a few remarkably line specimens were noticed
on the beach between Shnrehaiu and Lanciug, in company with a mixed party of Bar-tailed Godwits,
Grey Plover, Curlew Sandpipers, and Dunlin, the majority showing full summer plumage.
I cannot speak from personal experience concerning the edible qualities of the Knot ; that the
species, however, is held in some estimation for the table, may lie judged from the fact that when
Plovers arc scarce these birds bring in to the fowlers as much as four pence, and occasionally even five
pence, a head
1'nlcss needing specimens (either for preservation or to ascertain their plumage and condition) I
invariably felt a certain amount of compunction in slaughtering these confiding birds. Though the Knot
is at all seasons one of the most accessible of our Waders, the young ou their first arrival in the autumn
occasionally suffer themselves to be shot at time after time without making the slightest attempt to
escape, the survivors of the Hocks simply rising on wing at each discharge, and after a short flight
alighting with the dead and wounded.
Prom the crews of the light-ships off the east coast I ascertained (hat Knots were well known; on
some of the vessels they appeared to have been frequently captured. These Waders were described as
flying in largo bodies, numbers falling at once on deck; and one of the men declared that the last
flocks he observed had suddenly shied when close to the lantern, and hut one or two had been taken.