150 THE BIRDS OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



have the upper breast tinged with buff. The bill and legs are 

 black, and the irides dark brown. Length, 8 ins. Wing, 47 ins. 

 Tarsus, o'S in. 



Sub-family TOTANIN.^:. Sandpipers, Godwits, and 

 Curlews. 



Bill straight or curved ; legs usually long ; four toes, hind toe 

 elevated ; two or three anterior toes united at base. 



Ruif. Machetes pugnax (Linn.). 



The Ruff (Plate 62), formerly an abundant nesting species 

 in Britain, was practically wiped out during the first half of the 

 nineteenth century ; it was good to eat, and easy to kill when 

 obsessed with its spring madness ; so soon as it was rare the 

 collectors took care that no eggs were hatched. By 1880 very 

 few nesting pairs remained, and during the last forty years, 

 though birds have occasionally attempted to nest, most of the 

 eggs laid are in private collections. The breeding range includes 

 much of northern Europe and north-western Asia, and in those 

 parts of Holland w^here the bird is protected it is plentiful. It 

 winters in Africa and southern Asia, and in Britain is now a 

 regular though hardly abundant passage migrant in autumn 

 and spring. As a spring visitor it is more frequent in the 

 eastern counties than elsewhere, but it is by no means rare in 

 autumn in the west. Occasionally birds are noticed in winter 

 and summer months. 



When, between April and the end of June, the male is in full 

 dress, with frill and head tufts, he is unique, but no description 

 of plumage can include all variations of colour that he sports; 

 he is our most variable bird. The Reeve, the female, is more 

 stable, and in winter the Ruff resembles her ; she is a little like the 

 Redshank, but can always be told by the dark secondaries and 



