158 THE BIRDS OF OXFORDSHIRE. 



only authenticated occurrence of the Sanderling in this 

 county of which I have notice^ the reports by sportsmen 

 of their meeting- with it on the banks of our rivers and 

 streams having* reference either to the Green or to the 

 Common Sandpiper. , ^ c> 



THE RUFF. 



Machetes pugnax. 



The Ruff and Reeve, as the male and female of this species 

 have always been desig-nated, formerly bred commonly in the 

 fens of the eastern counties, but in consequence of the drain- 

 age of that part of the country, and the persecution which the 

 birds suffered in the breeding season, they have for many 

 years ceased to breed save in one or two favoured spots; 

 at the present day it is best known as a passing visitor to 

 England in spring and autumn. 



It is quite possible that in former years the Reeve may 

 have nested in this county, upon Otmoor, but there is no 

 evidence of its having done so. The Messrs. Matthews wrote 

 that it was often found in their neighbourhood in winter, but 

 they never met with it in the summer plumage ; a specimen 

 of the Ruff, which they obtained at the end of April, showed 

 no appearance of any change [Zoologist, p. 2537). In this 

 record ' autumn ' should be substituted for ' winter.' There is 

 a specimen in autumn plumage, labelled * Yarnton,'' in the 

 University Museum, and Mr. G. Arnatt has an immature 

 bird, which was shot in the meadows at Stanton Harcourt 

 on the 23rd September, after the wet summer of 1879. 



THE COMMON" SANDPIPER. 



Totanus hypoleucus. 

 The Common Sandpiper, a summer visitor to Great Britain, 

 breeding regularly in the .north and west, is a passing visitor 

 to Oxon in spring and autumn. At the former season it 

 is occasionally observed in the last days of April, but as a rule 

 its appearance may be looked for dm-ing the first week in 



