THE RUFF. 397 



at the tips ; tail brown, the central pair of feathers with subterminal dark 

 patches ; ear-coverts white streaked with brown ; fore neck and sides of 

 the neck brown, the feathers broadly edged with white ; remainder of the 

 lower plumage white. 



The above is the description of the full winter plumage ; it is the one in 

 which I have always found them in Burmah. In the autumn and spring, 

 however, the feathers of the upper plumage are dark brown with bright 

 rufous-brown edgings, and the whole lower plumage is more or less suf- 

 fused with pale rufescent. The female in winter is similar to the male, 

 but very much smaller. 



In summer the male has the face covered with yellow warty tubercles, 

 and it acquires a ruff of long feathers which cover the breast ; this ruff 

 varies in colour, being white or black, ferruginous or an intermixture of 

 many colours. At this season the male cannot possibly be mistaken for 

 any other bird, and an elaborate description of the plumage is unnecessary. 

 The female in summer, according to Mr. Dresser, has the crown, nape and 

 upper parts sandy brown marked with blackish brown; quills blackish 

 brown with white shafts ; the wing-coverts ashy brown ; tail ashy brown, 

 varied with chestnut-red and black ; chin whitish ; throat and breast ashy 

 brown slightly marked with dark brown ; rest of the underparts white, 

 the upper flanks marked like the neck ; no sign of a ruff on the neck. 



Iris dark brown ; legs and feet yellowish brown ; bill dark brown, paler 

 at the gape. 



Male: length about 12 inches, tail 2'8, wing 7'2, tarsus 1'8, bill from 

 gape 1'5. Female : length about 10, tail 2*3, wing 6, tarsus 1/6, bill from 

 gape 1'4. 



The Ruff is tolerably abundant in the winter months about the mouth 

 of the Sittang river, and in the numerous muddy creeks of the plains on 

 both sides. Mr. Hume has received it from the Bassein river, and Mr. 

 Blyth records it from Arrakan. Mr. Davison did not meet with it in 

 Tenasserim. 



It is found throughout Europe, except in the extreme north, and the 

 whole of Africa. It is spread, according to season, over the greater part 

 of Asia from Siberia to Ceylon, ranging eastwards to Burmah ; but it has 

 not yet been met with in China and Japan, nor in the Malay peninsula 

 and islands. 



I observed this Wader in small flocks on the banks of creeks and in 

 marshy tidal land. It dues not appear to arrive early or to stay late, my 

 specimens having been procured mostly in December. 



