THE PLOVER TRIBE 



2263 



This last is a remarkable and interesting species, characterized by the period- 

 ical assumption by the males of a large ruff round the neck, which is scarcely ever 

 exactly similar in any two individuals, the general plumage of that sex being like- 

 wise very variable at the same season. The immature males and females resemble 

 an ordinary sandpiper, but they may always be recognized by their white axillaries, 

 coupled with the absence of any white on the quills and central upper tail coverts. 

 In length the male measures about twelve inches and the female some two inches 

 less. Formerly common in the English marshes, the ruff is now mainly a passing 

 visitor to Britain; its breeding haunts range from the most northern lands of Europe 

 and Asia as far south as the valley of the Danube and the Kirghiz steppes, while 

 in winter it wanders as far as the Cape, Northern India, Burma, and even more re- 

 mote regions. Next to the extraordinary variation in the characteristic of the 

 plumage, the most interesting features about the ruff are the extreme pugnacity dis- 

 played by the cocks, and the circumstance that these birds differ from all their kin 

 in being polygamous the females largely exceeding the males in number. During 

 the pairing season the cocks congregate at certain spots known as "hills," and 

 there display their pugnacious propensities, although, as in French duels, but little 

 serious harm results to the combatants. The nest, which is roughly lined with dead 

 grass and sedge, is usually placed on a tussock in the middle of a swamp. Years 

 ago enormous numbers of ruffs and reeves (as the females are termed) were netted 

 in the Lincolnshire marshes during the breeding season. By many writers ruffs are 

 separated as Machetes. 



Nearly allied to the preceding group are the birds known as godwits, 

 distinguished by the feathers of the forehead not extending in advance 

 of the angle of the gape, the extremity of the long beak being hard and but little 

 expanded. A large portion of the 

 tibia is devoid of feathers, and the 

 claw of the third toe is comb-like. 

 Were it not that there is a differ- 

 ence in the conformation of the 

 upper part of the breastbone in 

 the two groups, the godwits could 

 scarcely be separated generically 

 from the hard-billed sandpipers. 

 These birds are represented by 

 four species and two varieties, all 

 of which breed in the Temperate 

 and Arctic portions of the North- 

 ern Hemisphere, but migrate far 

 to the south in winter, and two of 

 which frequent the British Islands. 

 Of the latter the bar-tailed godwit 



(Limosa rufa), which measures fifteen or sixteen inches in length, has in summer 

 the upper tail coverts and tail white with dark brown barrings, but is especially 

 characterized by the lower back, rump, axillaries, and under wing coverts being 



Godwits 



BAR-TAILED GODWIT. 



