Ornithological biography, Vol. 4 (of 5) : $b An account of the habits of the birds of the United States of AmericaAudubon, John James
Science
Ornithological biography, Vol. 4 (of 5) : $b An account of the habits of the birds of the United States of America
Audubon, John James
Birds -- North America
I have traced the Knot along the shores of our Atlantic states, from
Texas to the entrance of the Bay of Fundy, in the months of April and
May, and again in the autumnal months. I have also found it in winter
in East Florida, and therefore feel confident that some of the species
do not proceed beyond our southern limits at that season. Whilst on
the Bay of Galveston, in Texas, in April 1837, I daily observed groups
of Knots arriving there, and proceeding eastward, meandering along the
shores of the Gulf of Mexico. In the interior of the United States I
never observed one, and for this reason I am inclined to think that
the species moves northward along the coast. But as I did not find
any in Nova Scotia, Labrador, or Newfoundland, I consider it probable
that those which betake themselves to the fur countries, turn off from
our Atlantic shores when they have reached the entrance of the Bay of
Fundy. However this may be, it is certain that they reach a very high
latitude, and that some stop to breed about Hudson’s Bay, where Dr
RICHARDSON found them in summer.
On some few occasions I have observed the Knot associating with the
Tell-tale Godwit and Semi-palmated Snipe, about a mile from the sea,
along the margins of ponds of brackish-water; but such localities
seemed in a manner unnatural to them, and it was seldom that more than
two or three were seen there. Along the shores, in spring, I have
not unfrequently thought that they seemed dull, as if they had lost
themselves, for they would allow a person to go very near, and seldom
took to wing unless induced to do so by companions of other species,
who were better aware of their situation. In autumn, when they at times
collect into very large flocks, I have often followed them until I
obtained as many as I wished. WILSON has so beautifully described their
movements at such times, that, although I have often witnessed them
myself, I prefer giving his own words.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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