268 CHARADRITD.E. 



Genus PAVONCELLA, Leach, 1816. 



Bill moderately long, flexible, almost straight ; both mandibles 

 grooved, the upper almost to the tip ; nostrils linear, close to the 

 base. Wing long, pointed, 1st quill longest ; tertiaries elongate ; 

 tail moderate, rounded. Tarsus longer than the bill from gape, 

 transversely shielded in front and behind ; hind toe moderate, 

 outer and middle toes connected by a short web. 



The above characters are insufficient for generic distinction, bat 

 the circumstances that the male is always larger than the female, 

 and that at the breeding- season he assumes an entirely distinct 

 plumage from that worn by the hen, varying in coloration to an 

 extent unequalled in any other species of bird, with a ruff of long 

 feathers extending from the nape down each side of the neck to 

 the breast, afford ample grounds for placing the Ruff in a peculiar 

 genus. He is polygamous, and some of his habits at the breeding- 

 season resemble those of polygamous Gallince. 



1468. Pavoncella pngnax. The Huff and Reeve. 



Tringa pugnax, Linn. Sy*t. Nat. i, p. 247 (1766). 



Pavoncella pugnax, Leach, Syst. Cat. B. M. p. 29 (1816) ; SJiarpe, 



Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 500. 

 Machetes pugnax, Cuv. Rcgne An. i, p. 490 (1817); Hume 8f Dav. 



S. F. vi, p. 460 ; Davids. $ Wend. S. F. vii, p. 89 ; Hume, ibid. 



pp. 97, 487 ; id. Cat. no. 880 ; Scully, S. F. viii, p. 357 ; Lef/t/t; 



Birds Ceyl'v- 8<3; Vidal, S. F. ix, p. 85; Butler, ibid. p. 429; 



Biddulph, Ibis, 1881, p. 96 ; Scully, ibid. p. 588 ; Reid, S. F. x, 



p. 70 ; Davidson, ibid. p. 821 ; Biddulph, Ibis, 1882, p. 287 ; Oates, 



B. B. ii, p. 396 ; Hume, S. F. xi, p. 323 ; St. John, Ibis, 1889, 



p. 177. 

 Philomachus pugnax, G. R. Gray, List Gen. Birds, 2nd ed. 1841, 



BlytA # Wald. Birds Burm. p. 156 ; Butler, S. F. iv, p. 17 ; v, 

 pp. 224, 233 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 352. 



Geh-ivala, II. 



Fig. 6f. Head of P. pugnax. }. 



Coloration. Both sexes in winter generally have the forehead, 

 lores, and the cheeks white or whitish, often speckled ; sides of 

 head and neck indistinctly speckled with brown ; upper parts, 



