6 KNOT.
a n d rears its young within the Arctic circle. It is enumerated by
Captain Sabine, among t h e birds i n h a b i t i n g G r e e n l a n d and Spitsbergen.
Sir William J a r dine says that he has a specimen from New Holland
that appears in every way identical.
Dr. Fleming mentions one killed in the Isle of Sanday, one of the
O r k n e y s , on the 15th. of J u n e , 1808. Vast nocks arrive on our eastern
shores in the autumn. In Lincolnshire it used to be extremely abundant.
I n Ireland it is a regular autumnal visitant in Clare, etc; also in
Scotland, among other places, in Caithness and between Aberdeen and
Peterhead, as also in East Lothian.
This species generally arrives in Orkney in September. One was
k i l l e d by Mr. Strang, August 20th., 1811; several were shot by the
same gentleman on August 26th., 1843, September 7th., 1837, and in
October, 1881. They often appear in large flocks.
On the 4th. of February, 1851, I shot one of these birds, when in
company with my friend the Rev. K. P. Alington, on the Lincolnshire
side of the Humber. It was out of a Hock, very wild, and one of
t h e longest shots I ever made; neither of us will soon forget the
walk we took that day. Another, as tame as the first was the contrary,
I shot at N u n b u r n h o h n c the 28th. of November, 185G, on the edge
nf the stream by the village green: about the same time one was killed
near Bingley, in flu1 West Riding. It has occurred near Leeds, a
p a i r were shot at Killingheck, in 18o9; also near Ilcbdcn Bridge.
They are met with on the coast in small flocks in winter. A specimen,
of which W. Brooks Gates, Esq. has written me word, was shot at
I ' a i t i s h a l l , in N o r t h a m p t o n s h i r e , the first week in F e b r u a r y , 1855; in
S u r r e y , our near Godalming, in December, 1851. In Cornwall, it is
nut uncommon near Falmouth, at Gwyllynvase and Swanpool. One at
Peudennis, on J u n e 11th., 1866. In Devonshire it is frequently found
in autumn.
These birds frequent the low mouths of rivers, the sides of bays,
and other fiat parts of the coast.
They are of migratory habits, d e p a r t i n g in April and May, to arrive
again early in the autumn, in August, from the north.
On their first arrival in the autumn, they are extremely tame and
easily procured; afterwards, however, they learn to be more wary,
and in the end become extremely wild: during high water, they retire
to any n e i g h b o u r i n g dry land. They have been observed to swim with
great ease. They are valued for the table, and as they occur with us
in considerable numbers, arc sold p r e t t y extensively in the markets.
T h e y used to be taken, Bewick says, in uets, into which they were
inveigled by wooden figures of birds painted in their own resemblance.
KNOT. 7
Pennant says that as many as fourteen dozen have been taken at once.
They arc kept without much difficulty in confinement.
They fly with great power, and with little apparent exertion, straight
forward, with regular strokes of the wings, and commonly not high
above the surface. On the ground they also move about nimbly.
'AVhcncver these birds want to alight on any spot, if the wind is at
all high they invariably pitch with their heads straight to windward;
if they come down the wind to their resting-place, they first fly past
it, and then t u r n i n g back against the wind, alight with their heads in
that direction.'
They feed on marine insects and their larva?, and the smaller shellfish.
These they seek for early and late in the day, and during
moonlight nights, reposing, or moving about but little while the sun
is up.
The note is only a ' t w e e , twee,' expressed in a sharp high tone.
A tuft of grass serves as a depository for the eggs.
They arc stated to be four in number, of a light yellowish brown
colour, marked at the larger end with grey and reddish spots, forming
more or less of a belt, but least sj)ottcd towards the smaller end.
Male; weight, about four ounces and a half; length, towards ten
i n c h e s ; bill, dusky black at the tip, fading into reddish at the base;
between it and the eye is a dusky streak, and a white one over the
eye in winter. Iris, hazel; forehead, reddish brown streaked with dark
brown, in winter white; head on the sides, chesnut red with a few
dark brown spots before and behind the eye, in winter the former
colour becomes white; on the crown, neck on the back, and nape,
reddish brown, streaked with dark brown or black, and interspersed
with specks of white, in winter light brownish grey with the shafts of
the feathers darker, and so on the front and sides of the neck. Chin,
throat, and breast, rich reddish chesnut, in winter white, the latter
slightly streaked across with grey, and waved with the same on the
sides. Back, blackish on the centre of the feathers, which are barred
and varied with reddish brown, and margined and tipped with white,
in winter it is greyish ash-colour with the feather shafts darker, the
lower part greyish and white, the feathers tipped and edged semicircularly
with a darker shade, the extreme edge paler.
The wings have the first quill feather the longest; they extend in
t h e i r stretch to one foot seven inches; greater wing coverts, greyish
ash-colour, in winter tipped with white, forming a bar across the wings
when extended; lesser wing coverts, dusky black with reddish brown
a n d white margins to the feathers, in winter greyish ash-colour, and
t h e white tips form a bar across the wing. Primaries, greyish or