^'-^ 





J«Sf» 



THE RUFF. 



(Tringa pugnax, Linn. Pugnax. Briss. Philomachus, Mcehring 

 Comhattant, Buff. Ois. vii. p. 521. t. 29. 30. [male.] T. littorea 

 GMEL.i.p. 677. Lath. T. Grenovicensis, 1b. T. equestris, Ib. Gam 

 bet, and Yellow-legged Sandpiper, Mont. Orn. Diet. Totanus cinereus 

 Briss. v. p. 203. 17. 2. [female and young.] R7iff and Reeve, Brit 

 Zool. ii. No. 192. t. 69. Don. Brit. Birds, t. 19. Bewick, ii. p. 95.) 



Sp. Charact. — Bill slightly curved and enlarged towards the point; 

 legs long; tail rounded, the two middle feathers banded, the 3 

 lateral ones always of a single color. — The colors of individuals 

 extremely variable. — The male in summer, furnished with a ruflf 

 of long feathers on the occiput and sides of the throat, and with 

 the face naked and warty. — Female, young, and autumnal nialCf 

 without the ruff. 



The Ruff, no less than the family of Sandpipers, with 

 which it is associated in the systems, is almost equally given 

 to wandering, being found, according to the season, dispersed 

 in flocks throughout the principal parts of the cold and 

 temperate climates of the northern hemisphere. In spring 



