610 Mr. P. E,. Lowe on the 



subfamilies, and the Ruff is included under tlie Scolopacinae; 

 in other works it is still more comprehensively sheltered under 

 the wide-spreading wings of the Charadriidse ; while in the 

 ' British Bird Book' one notes that the species which make 

 up the Redshank subfamily are grouped indifferently along 

 with the Dunlin association under a division which purports 

 to be the subfamily Tringinse. 



It is not my intention to traverse the reasons which have 

 led to this somewhat astonishing treatment of a bird which 

 has been familiar to ornithologists for centuries, the object 

 of this note being simply to demonstrate that there seems to 

 be no possible sort of question whatever that the Ruff is not 

 a Tringine form, that it is a somewhat specialised Dunlin, 

 and that its proper systematic position is with the Dunlin 

 association or the Eroliinse. 



So far as this note is concerned, the proof of this will 

 rest solely on osteological grounds ; but it may be pointed 

 out that in a paper by the author which recently appeared 

 in 'The Ibis' (April 1915, p. 339) on "Coloration as a 

 factor in Family and Generic Differentiation," it was pointed 

 out that the colour-pattern characteristic of the downy 

 nestling of the Ruff, as well as of immature and female 

 examples, was undoubtedly Eroliine in type. I refer to this 

 here, as being a distinct point to the good in favour of 

 colour-pattern as a guide or clue to subfamily or generic 

 affinities, borne out as it is, in this instance, in the most 

 complete and definite way, by an appeal to osteological 

 characters. 



In any attempt to decide upon osteological grounds as to 

 which of the aforementioned subfamilies the Ruff ought 

 to be referred, it is obviously necessary to have gained some 

 clear and definite knowledge as to the osteological features 

 which characterise these two subfamilies. 



So far as I am aware, these characters have never yet 

 been set forth. I have lately been through all the available 

 material in the British Museum and in the Royal College of 

 Surgeons bearing on this question, and although, unfor- 

 tunately, it is not so complete as one could have desired, it 



