128 GRALLATORES. MACHETES. RUFF. 



grey, and spotted with blackish-brown. Back and sca- 

 pulars black, with bronze and purple reflections; the 

 latter feathers being long and narrow, with their outer 

 webs of a rich cream-yellow, and forming two conspi- 

 cuous bands down the back. Wing-coverts black, mar- 

 gined with pale brown and white. Tail consisting of 

 twelve feathers, brownish-black, and margined with pale 

 chestnut-brown. Abdomen white. Legs and toes green- 

 ish-grey. 



GENUS MACHETES, CUVIER. RUFF. 



GENERIC CHARACTERS. 



BILL straight, rather slender, as long as the head, with the 

 tip dilated and smooth. Upper mandible laterally sulcated 

 for four-fifths of its length. Culmen rounded. Nostrils basal, 

 lateral, linear, placed in the commencement of the groove., 



Wings long, and sharp-pointed ; with the first and second 

 quill- feathers of equal length, and the longest in the wing. 



Legs long and slender, having the tibiae naked for a con- 

 siderable space above the tar sal joint. Feet four- toed ; three 

 before, and one behind ; the outer toe being united to the 

 middle one by a membrane as far as the first joint, and the 

 inner one free. Hind toe short, articulated upon the tarsus, 

 with the tip 'of the claw barely touching the ground. 



In plumage, the head and neck of the male, during the 

 amatory season, are adorned with long plumose feathers, 

 springing from the occiput and throat ; which, when raised, 

 form a large ruff or shield around the head ; and the face of 

 the male bird, during the same period, is covered with small 

 fleshy warts or papillae. 



In the systems of LINN^US and his immediate followers, 

 the Ruff was included among the Tringas, a numerous 

 .genus, containing, besides the species still classed under that 



