PRELIMINARY CLASSIFIED NOTES 435 



may be met with from the middle of August till April, but only a small number of 

 the migrants stay with us throughout the winter, most of the birds passing farther 

 south. A few linger with us during the summer, but they remain in small parties 

 and keep to the coast, showing no signs of breeding. They are to be considered 

 as partially mature birds, a view supported by the evidence of the reproductive 

 organs and of the plumage ; the latter (" pre-nuptial ") differs in some particulars 

 from the adult breeding-dress (cf. Patten, Naturalist, 1909, pp. 84, 85 ; and British 

 Association Reports, 1909, p. 505, and 1910, p. 637). A gregarious traveller. 

 [A. L. T.] 



4. Nest and Eggs. Does not breed in the British Isles. [F. c. B. j.] 



5. Food. On the shore, worms, small crustaceans, and molluscs, insects 

 such as the flies that breed in decaying seaweed and their larvae. Stomachs 

 examined by Professor Patten contained many minute bivalves, and quantities 

 of sandhoppers ; and in others were found remains of small black beetles (Aquatic 

 Birds, p. 317). In their Arctic breeding-places they have been seen to eat tender 

 shoots of plants such as Saxifraga oppositifolia (Feilden, Ibis, 1877, p. 406). Mr. 

 Trevor-Battye observed them on Kolguev feeding greedily on a Pteropod (Clione 

 limacina) and certain Medusae (Turris digitalis) and Sarsia sp. ?. The pigment 

 in the generative organs of the hydrozoan stained the droppings of the birds scarlet 

 (Icebound on Kolguev, p. 436). The young are accompanied and aided at first 

 by both parents, later by the female only, in their search for food, which consists 

 of small insects and their larvse and pupae exclusively (Manniche, N.E. Greenland, 

 p. 146). [w. F.] 



RUFF [Machetes pugnax (Linnaeus). Reeve (female). French, combattant, paon 

 de mer ; German, Kampfldufer ; Italian, gambetta']. 



i. Description. The ruff in winter plumage is to be distinguished by the 

 almost uniform ash-brown colour of the upper parts, the white patch on either side 

 of the tail, the uniform ash-brown colour of the tail feathers, and the long yellow legs. 

 The sexes are alike in their "winter" plumage, but differ greatly in size. (PL 126.) 

 Length male, 13 in. [330'20 mm.] ; female, 10 in. [254*00 mm.]. The male in 

 nuptial dress displays an extraordinary variety, so much so as to render any 

 individual description useless. The distinctive feature of the plumage is the 

 development of a great erectile frill of feathers, which, when expanded, forms a 

 nearly circular disc around the head, which is surmounted by erectile tufts of 



