OP THE BEITISH ISLANDS. 213 



Family CHARADRIID.E. Genus MACHETES. 



Subfamily TOTANINJS. 



RUFF. 



MACHETES PUGNAX (Linnceus) . 



Tringa pugnax, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 247 (1766). 



Machetes pugnax (Linn.), Macgill. Brit. B. iv. p. 171 (1852) ; Dresser, B. Bur. viii. 

 p. 87, pis. 557, 558 (1878) ; Yarrell, Brit. B. ed. 4, iii. p. 426 (1883); Lilford, Col. 

 Fig. Brit. B. pt. xvii. (1891). 



Totanus pugnax (Linn.), Seebohm, Hist. Brit. B. iii. p. 113 (1885); Dixon, Nests and 

 Eggs Brit. B. p. 264 (1893) ; Seebohm, Col. Fig. Eggs Brit. B. p. 135, pi. 42 (1896). 



Pavoncella pugnax (Linn.), Sharpe, Handb. B. Gt. Brit. iii. p. 270 (1896) ; Sharpe, 

 Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xxiv. p. 500 (1896). 



Geographical distribution. British : The Ruff formerly bred in 

 many of the English marshes ; a few pairs still continue to do so in Norfolk and 

 Lincolnshire, although Professor Newton says that there is but one locality left. 

 It is most abundant on spring and autumn passage, but of less frequent occurrence 

 on the west coasts than on the east. It occurs on the Orkneys, and Shetlands, 

 and the Outer Hebrides. It is of regular appearance in Ireland on migration. 

 Foreign : Northern Paleearctic region, Ethiopian and Oriental regions in winter. 

 It breeds from the highest known land across Europe and Asia as far east as the 

 Taimur Peninsula, south to Belgium, Germany, and the valley of the Danube 

 in Europe ; and south to the Kirghiz Steppes, Western Dauria, and perhaps the 

 valley of the Amoor in Asia. It passes through the basins of the Mediterranean, 

 Black, Caspian, and Aral seas on migration, and winters in the African portion 

 of the Intertropical realm, in Northern India, and in Burmah. Whether the Ruff 

 breeds in South Africa is not yet known, but it is significant that Captain Shelley 

 records a male and female from Nyasaland in August. Abnormal migrants of this 

 species have occurred in Ceylon, Borneo, Japan, Kamtschatka, Behring Island, 

 Canada, the Eastern United States, Spanish Guiana, the Faroes, and Iceland. 



Allied forms. None of sufficient propinquity to need mention. 



Habits. The Ruff is rather a late bird of passage. According to Irby the 

 migration of this species at Gibraltar commences in January, and continues until 

 the end of May ; but as the bird does not arrive in Germany or Holland until the 

 beginning of May it must progress very slowly. It does not reach its breeding 



