836 



S YS TEMA TI C S YNOPSIS. — LIMICOLjE. 



P. pug'nax 



Chevalier. 



requiring constant presence of mind to keep it down decently. It is amusing to see the male 

 perform during the mating season, swelling with amorousness and self-sulficiency, puffing up his 

 plumage till he looks twice as big as usual, facing about this way and that, saluting all points 

 of the compass with his hinder parts — for such is the original way the Tip-up has of conduct- 

 ing his courtships. 



PAVONCEL'LA. (Ital. name of the European Lapwing; the word means "little peacock," 

 being diminutive form of pavone, the Peacock, Lat. 2)avo; it was first transferred to the Ruff, 

 and used as a generic name, by Leach in 1810, and in this usage antedates Machetes Cuv. 1817, 

 the usual name of this genus, as in 2d-4th editions of the Key ; 1st edition had Philoinachus, as 

 adopted by Gray, Baird, and others, after Moehring, 1752.) Fighting Sandpipers. Bill 

 straight, about as long as head, shorter than tarsus, grooved nearly to tip. Gape reaching 

 behind culinen. Outer and middle toe webbed at base ; inner cleft. Tarsus longer than mid- 

 dle toe and claw. Tail about half as long as wing, barred. $ in breeding season with face 

 bare and beset with papillae, and neck with an extravagant frill or ruffle of elongated feathers ; 

 9 without these ornaments. Sternum single-notched. Polygamous — polygynous and 

 polyandrous. 



(Lat. p?(/7no.r, pugnacious. Fig. 586.) Ruff, ^. Reeve, 9- Combatant. 

 Gambetta. Paon de Mer. Equestrian Sandpiper. Adult (J, in wed- 

 ding dress : Varied above with 

 black, brown, buff, and chest- 

 nut, the sides of rump white; 

 under parts white, breast and 

 sides and crissum black, spotted 

 with white ; tail brown, barred 

 with chestnut and white ; quills 

 dusky, with white shafts ; wing- 

 coverts ashy-brown. Bill black- 

 ish, flesh-colored at base ; legs 

 dingy yellow ; iris dark brown ; 

 warty excrescences yellow or 

 pink ; feathers of ruff endlessly 

 varied in color — it is hardly pos- 

 sible to find any two specimens 

 exactly alike, and difficult to sort 

 out these frills in even the most 

 general terms ; inore than a 

 dozen different styles are cata- 

 logued by some writers ; but it 

 is believed ou good grounds that 

 the same individual grows the 

 same kind of a cape each year 

 during his life. Length about 

 12.00; wing 7.00; tail 3 00; 

 bill 1.50; tarsus 2.00. 9 much 

 smaller, lacking the ruff and 

 tubercles, etc. A widely dis- 

 tributed bird of the Old World, notorious for pugnacity, salacity, and profligacy ; occasionally 

 killed on the coast of New England and the Middle States, etc. (Lawr. Ann. Lye. Nat. Hist. 

 N. Y. V, 1852, p. 220, Long Island; Coues, Pr. Essex Inst, v, 1868, p. 296, New England; 

 Brewster, Am. Nat. vi, 1872, p. 306, Massachusetts, and Bull. Nutt. Club, i, 1876, p. 19, 



Fig. 58G. — The Ruff, ^, in full feather, J nat. size. 



(From Brehm.) 



