PHILOMACHUS PUGNAX. OQ^ 



HABITS. 



The Samlerlings are among the most abundant of our shore birds and arc, in fut, the 

 most common of those which frequent the sandy beaches, they being ahuost excUisively 

 confined to sandy shores. Their pale colors render them quite conspicuous, wlicn flying 

 over the green waves or against the black sky; but when they alight on the sand, they cor- 

 respond so neai'ly with the ground, that when they are quiet, it is almost iniiiossible to dis- 

 tinguish them a short distance away. It is seldom, however, that they remain inactive,. 

 for tliey are lively birds and are constantly chasing the waves out, in search of food left by 

 that great store house of Nature, — the sea. Then when the huge billows come rushing in 

 and expend their fury on the shelving beach, in a long, wide sheet of seething foam, the 

 little Sanderlings run so quickly before the advancing water, that the spray seldom wets 

 their delicate feathers. After a storm, hundreds of these birds may be seen thus engaged, 

 spreading out in long lines ia order that they may not interfere with one another, and many 

 lonely reaches of sea-board, from Elaine to Florithi, are enlivened by the presence of these 

 true children of the sand. The Sanderlings arrive in New England in August, remain un- 

 til quite late, then gradually move southward. They are abundant from llie Carolinas to 

 Key West during winter but migrate northward in May. 



GENUS VII. PHILOMACHUS. TUE RUFFS. 

 Gen. Ch. Bill, about as long as head, straiyhl and sliijhlly expanded at lip. Hind toe, present. Feathers of neck, 

 greatly elongated. 



PHILOMACHUS PUGNAX. 

 Huff. 



Philomachus pugnax Gra\', List; 1841. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Sp. Cii. Form, robust. Size, large. Bill, straight, about as long as liead, slender, and wiiicneil at tip. Leg-:, stout. 

 Toes, without Inisal membrane. Tip of closed wing, reaching to end of tail. Tertiaries, nearly as long as primaries. 



Col-ou. Adult. Above, ashy, darkest (m rump, pal.;st on head, mcittled, sprinkled, and banded irregularly, with ru- 

 fous and dark-hruwu. Outer upper tad coverts, white. Under parts, white, mottled to a greater or less extent with black. 



Young. Ilend and ncek all arimnd. ashy , finely streaked with dii.sky. Remainder of upper parts, dark-hiown, rac!: feath^ 

 er, excepting primaries, broadly edged with ashy and yellowi~li-rufous. Upper tail coverts, white, with a central line of 

 dark-brown. Tail, ashy-brown, tipped wicli white. Remainder of under parts, ashy-white, darkest across breast. Bill, 

 dark-brown, lighter at base, iris, brown, legs, greenish-yellow, in all stages. 



OBSERVATIONS. 

 This i- an exceedingly difficult bird to describe as the colors, especially in the adult stage, are extremely variable. Thus 

 the elongated neck feathers vary from nearly white, slightly marked with black, to black, sprinkled with white, and the 

 other color.s are equally changeable. The young are more uidform. Rcaddy known by the large size, straight bill,^tout 

 legs, and wliite upper tail coverts, centrally lined with dark-brown. Distributed, in summer, throughout Northern Eu- 

 rope. Rare in Eastern North America. 



DIMENSIO.VS. 

 Average measurements. Length, 10-.50; .stretch, 21-50; wing, 6!ia; tail,2C2; bill, luS; t.irsus, 1-85. Longest speci- 

 men, 1 1 03. greatest extent of wing, 23-0;V, Ion j;est wing, 7 ^5: tail. 21b: hill. ITo; tarsus, 200. Shortest specimen, 10 00; 

 smallest extent of wing, 2100; shortest wing, ()-40: tail, 2-.'J0; bill, l-tO; taisus. V'a. 



DESCRIPTION OF NESTS AND EGGS. 

 A'/f/s, placed on the ground in a slight depression of the soil, <m a little grass, etc., three or four in numljer, decided- 

 ly pyriform in shape, varying from yellowish-ash to greenish in color, spotted and blotched irregularly, and rather coarse- 

 ly, with brown of varj'ing shades. Dimen-sions from 115x160 to 1-23 x 1-80. 



