396 BIRDS OF BRITISH BURMAH. 



Length of female 6*5 inches, tail 1'7, wing 4'1, tarsus '8, bill from gape 1, 

 breadth of bill near tip '45. 



The description of the bird in winter plumage is taken from two speci- 

 mens shot in Arrakan by Mr. Shopland in November and January 

 respectively. 



The Spoon-billed Stint, remarkable for the curious shape of its bill, is 

 apparently rare. Mr. Shopland, at my request, carefully looked for 

 this bird whenever he went out shooting on the coast near Akyab, and 

 this resulted in his procuring two specimens which he very liberally pre- 

 sented to me ; they are now deposited in the British Museum. Dr. Arm- 

 strong procured one specimen near Elephant Point at the entrance to the 

 Rangoon river, and subsequently two more at Amherst in Tenasserim. 



It has been recorded from Arrakan several times, and probably this 

 Wader is not really so rare as is generally supposed. 



The range of this bird as given by Mr. Harting may be summarized as 

 follows : the sea-coast from the mouths of the Ganges down the eastern 

 side of the Bay of Bengal to Amherst in Tenasserim ; Amoy in China, and 

 Behring's Straits, North-east Asia. 



With a known range of this extent it must necessarily be found over a 

 considerable portion of Eastern and South-eastern Asia. 



Little is known regarding the habits of this species. Mr. Shopland 

 informed me that he generally saw it on the sea-coast in company 

 with large numbers of other Stints, and it was distinguishable from them 

 by its very pure white underplumage. 



Genus MACHETES, Ouv. 



738. MACHETES PUGNAX. 

 THE RUFF. 



Tringa pugnax, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 247. Philomachus pugnax, Jerd. B. Ind. 

 ii. p. 687; Bl. $ Wald. S. Burm. p. 156; Butter, S. F. iv. p. 17. Machetes 

 pugnax, Dresser, Birds Eur. viii. p. 87, pi. ; Hume fy Dav. S. F. vi. p. 460 ; 

 Hume, S. F. viii. p. 112; Scully, S. F. viii. p. 357 ; Legge, Birds Ceylon, p. 873 : 

 Oates, S. F. x. p. 240. 



Description. Winter plumage. Forehead, lores, cheeks, chin and throat 

 generally pure white ; crown and nape ashy brown, the feathers edged with 

 whitish ; the upper plumage ashy brown, each feather with a dark centre 

 and with the edges ashy white ; scapulars and tertiaries richer brown, with 

 subterminal blackish patches ; quills brown, the secondaries broadly white 



