SANDPIPERS X UFFS. 



269 



Mr. Seebohm among the number, believe that it is effected, by the vocal 

 organs. 



The sandpipers differ from the snipes in having the position of the eye 

 normal, and not reaching to the ear-opening, as in the snipes and woodcocks. 

 In this group of the sub-family Scolopaeinw we find some of the most in- 

 teresting of the waders, the purple sandpipers (Arquatella), the dunlins 

 (Pelidna), the knots (Trintja), the curlew sandpipers (Ancylochilus\ the 

 stints (Limonites), and the sanderlings (Calidris). They are mostly birds 

 which breed in the Arctic regions, and go to the southern continents of the 

 globe to pass the winter. Of the curlew sandpiper no egg has yet been 

 found; of the knot no really authentic egg is known; and of the sanderling 

 but very few. In this group of sandpipers occurs the spoon-billed sandpiper 

 Eurynorhynchiis pyynueus), a little stint with a spoon-shaped bill, which nests 

 in the arctic regions of Eastern Siberia, where Nordenskjold met with it 

 during the voyage of the Veya, and passes along the coasts of Japan and 

 China to winter on the shores of Burma. 



These birds are very closely allied to the foregoing, but are distinguished 

 by having the outer toes connected with the middle one by a web at the 

 base. In the TotaniiuK are included all the curlews and 

 whimbrels (Numeniui^ the god wits (Limosa), the tatlers The Tatlers. 

 (Totanust\ the green sandpipers (Helodromas), the summer Sub-family 

 snipes (Tringoides\ the wood sandpipers (Rhyacophtius), and Totanince. 

 the ruffs (Pavoncella). They are mostly birds which build 

 in northern climes and in the temperate portions of the Palrearctic and 

 Nearctic regions. The nest is usually placed in a marsh, the eggs being pear- 

 shaped and four in number, laid with the pointed ends directed towards each 

 other; the green sandpiper (Helodromas ochropus), however, nests in trees, 

 utilising the old nest of a thrush or some other bird in which to deposit its 

 eggs. The tatlers frequent the sea-shores on their journey south, arid their 

 musical notes enliven the dreary expanse of mud-flats on many parts of the 

 British coasts during the autumn. In the breeding season many of the 

 stints have a musical trill or song, which they utter as they mount into the 

 air above their nests. 



One of the most remarkable of the tatler group is the ruff, no two males 

 of which are alike in plumage. The female, called the reeve, is smaller 

 than the male, and of a plainer 

 brown plumage. In winter both 

 sexes don a plain-coloured dress, 

 much like that of any other tatler, 

 and the male can only be distin- 

 guished from the hen by his larger 

 size. On arriving at their breeding- 

 places in Europe and Siberia, the 

 males have a large ruff or shield on 

 the neck, and a tuft of occipital 

 plumes on each side of the head. 

 These ruffs are sometimes plain with- 

 out bars, and may be white, rufous, 

 or black, while every kind of varia- 

 tion is seen in the colour of the 

 ruffs and occipital ornaments. Some- 

 times they are white barred with black, or rufous with black bars ; in fact, 



/- 31. THE RUFF (Pavoncella pugttux). 



