2262 PL O VERS, SA NDPIPERS, SNIPE, JA CA NAS, GULLS 



gape. In length the beak is moderate, and it has its tip hard, and the 

 e * r " nostrils slit-like and lateral. The first toe is always present, and the 

 Sandpipers metatarsus (except in a Pacific species where they are absent from 

 and Ruffs the greater portion of the back) is covered with scutes both before 

 and behind, and some portion of the tibia is bare. In the long 

 and pointed wings the first quill is the longest, but there is considerable variation in 

 the form and number of the tail feathers, which in the great majority of species are 

 barred. The genus comprises about a score of species, of which a large moiety are 

 represented in the British Islands, and throughout the breeding season are distrib- 

 uted over the Boreal and Temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere, but in 



RUFFS AND REEVES. 



winter become collectively cosmopolitan. Frequenting moors, marshes, and tundras 

 during the breeding season, these familiar and pretty little birds resort to the sea- 

 coasts in the winter throughout many portions of their range and are in the habit of 

 performing migrations of enormous length. Their food consists of insects, crusta- 

 ceans, and mollusks, supplemented by fruit, and their shrill, piping notes are among 

 the most familiar sounds of the seashore. More or less gregarious and social in 

 their habits, especially in the winter, with the single exception of the ruff, all are 

 monogamous; their scanty nests are usually placed on the ground, and contain, at 

 the proper season, four pear-shaped spotted eggs. Among the better-known British 

 forms are the common sandpiper ( Totanus hypoleucus} , the green sandpiper ( T. 

 ochropus), the red shank (T. calidris), the greenshank (T. glottis], and the ruff (T. 

 pugnax) . 



