THE RUFFS. 271 



Machetes pugnax^ Macgill. Brit. B. iv. p. 171 (1852); Dresser, 

 B. Eur. viii. p. 87, pis. 557, 558 (1878); B. O. U. List 

 Brit. B. p. 171 (1883); Saunders, ed. Yarrell's Brit. B. 

 iii. p. 426 (1883) ; id. Man. Brit. B. p. 585 (1889). 



Totanus pugnax, Seebohm, Hist. Brit. B. iii. p. 113 (1885). 



Favoncella pug?iax, Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xxiv. p. 500 

 (1896). 



[Plate LX XX VIII.) 



Adult Male (Ruff). — As every male bird varies in this species, 

 it is impossible to give any exact description of this sex. In 

 the " Catalogue of Birds," however, I have endeavoured to 

 classify the different styles of plumage \\hich the males 

 assume. 



The main divisions into which the males may be separated 

 are two, viz., those with the ruff uniform and those with the 

 ruff barred. In the former section the ruff is white or black, 

 orange-buff or chestnut. The occipital plumes vary from 

 white to black, blue-black, purplish-black, greenish-black, 

 rufous, chestnut, or sandy-buff. 



In those males which belong to the section wherein the ruff 

 is barred^ there are many types. The ruff is glossy greenish- 

 black, barred with rufous ; or rufous, barred with blue-black ; 

 or sandy-buff, broadly barred with purplish-black ; or buffy- 

 white, with purplish-black bars or spots; or white, narrowly 

 barred or vermiculated with black ; or black, barred with 

 white ; or purplish-black, streaked with white. 



In the barred forms, the occipital tufts also vary. They 

 may be greenish-black ; rufous ; rufous barred with purplish- 

 black ; greenish-black, barred with sandy-buff and purplish- 

 black ; buffy-white, barred with black ; white, spotted or barred 

 with black ; pale cinnamon ; pure white ; black, narrowly barred 

 with white ; or black, vermiculated with brown. 



Between these well-marked variations numbers of inter- 

 mediate forms may be found, bat the above appear to me to 

 be the main types of plumage indulged in by the Ruff. In ad- 

 dition to the frill and ornamental ruff, the males also lose the 

 feathers of the face, which becomes covered with tubercles of 

 various tints, corresponding, according to Mr. Abel Chapman, 

 to the colour of the ruff itself. 



Adult Male in Winter Plumage — Devoid of all ornamental 



