Vv CHARADRIIDAE 285 
wing shewing a white patch, and the white under parts brownish 
streaks. In the cold season all the dark markings vanish. 7° 
(Heteractitis) imecanus, having uniform grey upper, and white 
under surface, closely barred in summer with dusky, is found 
through the Eastern Pacific Islands, and on the mainland from 
Alaska to the Galapagos. 7. brevipes, with white-banded upper 
tail-coverts, occurs from Kamtschatka and East Siberia to the 
Malay Islands and Australia. Both breed to the northward. 
Machetes pugnax, the Ruff—with its consort the Reeve— 
was formerly well-known in England from the large num- 
bers netted or snared for the table. Our nesting birds are 
now reduced to a few pairs, but considerable numbers visit 
us on passage, while they breed through northern Europe 
and Asia, and migrate to South Africa, the Indian region, 
and Japan, wandering rarely to Iceland and Eastern America. 
The Ruff’s nuptial plumage, which varies extraordinarily and 
individually, may be chiefly black, white, chestnut, buff, grey and 
white, and so forth, often with metallic hues or concentric barring. 
A tuft of stiff curled plumes springs from near each ear, the 
feathers of the face are replaced by yellowish or pinkish tubercles, 
and an ample distensible ruff overhangs the breast. Males regain 
the same colours annually, but after breeding become lke the 
females, which are dark brown and_ buff, and one-third smaller. 
The polygamous tendencies and habit of “ hilling,” 7@.e. sparring 
on some slight eminence for the Reeves, have been frequently 
described ;* the note, though seldom heard, is said to resemble 
ka-ka-kuk ; the food includes seeds, insects, and worms; the nest, 
placed among herbage in the drier parts of a swamp, contains 
four greenish, snipe-like eggs, with rich brown blotches. The 
Ruff performs many antics while courting, but leaves all the work 
of building, incubation, and the care of the young to his mate. 
Bartramia longicauda, which accidentally visits Britain, Conti- 
nental Europe, and even Australia, inhabits North America, and 
migrates southward to Chili and Argentina. It is hight brown 
above, varied with black, buff, and white, the long wedge-shaped 
tail and the under surface of the wing are barred, the rufous lower 
parts spotted, with black. The throat and belly are white. In 
winter it is a shy bird, crouching, running with jerks of the tail, 
or taking short flights; it utters a soft whistle, and lays pinkish- 
1 See Yarrell’s Brit. Birds, 4th ed., iii. 1882-84, pp. 426-434, and elsewhere. 
