Dr. L. C. Sanford (1903) writes:
One of my pleasant recollections of shore-bird shooting is associated with this bird. I give the date with some hesitation, for it was May 10, near Cobb Island. During several days previous redbreast had been flying, but the tides were not suitable, and it was useless to try for them. Here the flight is along the outer beach, at the edge of the surf, the birds stopping to feed on the mud flats exposed by the falling tide. The sun was not up and the water still high as we set the decoys off one of the points along the beach, close to the breaking waves; the blind was of seaweed, and before we were settled the first flock passed by high up, but a pair of birds dropped out of it and hovered in front of us; another minute and 10 more swung in. Flock after flock, from a few birds to hundreds, passed in the same line, coming into sight over the ocean, striking the beach and following its edge—now low just over the surf, now high up—the first light of sunrise giving them a black appearance. The undulating character of the flight was unmistakable and was in evidence when the dark line first appeared—now distinct on the horizon, presently out of sight in the waves, all of a sudden rising up over the decoys to circle in. Our chance lasted only a few minutes, for when the flat was exposed the birds all passed by out of range; occasionally we whistled in an odd one, but the flocks shied off. As we carried back our basket of birds it did not occur to us that the experience of that morning would be our last flight of redbreast, but it was.
DISTRIBUTION
Breeding range.—The breeding range of the knot in North America is imperfectly known, but appears to extend north to Franklin (Winter Harbor, Victoria Land, and Goose Fiord), and Grinnell Land (Fort Conger). East to Greenland (Floeberg Beach, Cape Sheridan, North Star Bay, Tuctoo Valley, Bowdoin Bay, and Disco Bay). South to southwestern Greenland (Disco Bay) and southern Franklin (Igloolik, Winter Island, and Cambridge Bay). West to Franklin (Cambridge Bay and Winter Harbor). Birds breeding in northeast Greenland may be the European form.
It has also been detected in summer in Alaska at Point Barrow, Point Hope, St. Michael, and other localities, where it may possibly breed.
Winter range.—Not well known but in the Western Hemisphere, seemingly most of South America, from Patagonia (Tierra del Fuego) and Argentina (Barracus al Sud and Cape San Antonio) on the south, Peru (Santa Luzia and probably Tumbez) on the west, Brazil (Iguape) on the east, to possibly Jamaica, Barbados, rarely Louisiana (Vermilion Bay), and Florida (St. Marks).
Spring migration.—Early dates of spring arrival on the Atlantic coast are: South Carolina, Frogmore, April 8, and Egg Bank, April 16; North Carolina, Pea and Brodie Islands, April 18; Virginia, Locustville, April 10; New Jersey, Absecon Bay, April 21; New York, Long Beach, Long Island, April 29, and Canandaigua Lake, May 23; Connecticut, Norwalk, May 24, Fairfield, May 29, and Westport, May 30; Massachusetts, Tuckernuck Island, May 11, Franklin, Igloolik, June 14; and Greenland, Jacobshaven, June 3, and Cape Union, June 5.
On the Pacific coast, early dates are: California, Alameda, April 25; Washington, Destruction Island Light, May 6, and Willapa Harbor, May 11 [once at Dungeness, on February 25, 1915 (Cantwell)]; British Colombia, Fort Simpson, May 13; and Alaska, Nulato, May 10, Craig, May 13, Admiralty Island, May 14, St. Michael, May 29, and Point Barrow, May 30.
Late dates of spring departure are: South Carolina, near Charleston, June 5; Virginia, Cape Charles, June 10, Cobb Island, June 25, and Wallop's Island, June 27; New Jersey, Cape May County, June 3, and Elizabeth, June 11; New York, Amityville, May 31, and Geneva, June 8; and Massachusetts, Cape Cod, June 13, Harvard, June 19, Marthas Vineyard, June 24, and Monomoy Island, June 28.
Fall migration.—Early dates of arrival in fall migration are: Washington, Lake Oxette, July 12; California, Alameda, August 1, Monterey, August 7, and Santa Barbara, August 21; Massachusetts, Cape Cod, July 15, Marthas Vineyard, July 24, Dennis, July 27, and Monomoy Island, July 30; Rhode Island, Newport, August 1; Connecticut, Saybrook, August 21; New York, East Hampton, July 27, Dutchess County, July 30, Rockaway, August 12, Montauk Point Light, August 14, And Amityville, August 23; New Jersey, Tuckerton, July 3; Virginia, Wallops Island, August 12; North Carolina, Pea and Brodie Islands, July 8; South Carolina, near Charleston, July 20; Florida, Marco, July 1, and Lesser Antilles, Barbados, September 6.