CALIDRIS. MACHETES. 225 



Iceland ; also in Spitsbergen, Vaigach, and on the Siberian 

 coast, including the Liakoff and the New Siberia Islands. In 

 winter it visits southern Africa, southern Asia and its islands, 

 Australia, the Marshall and Hawaiian Islands ; also South 

 America as far as Chile and Patagonia. 



Subfamily T o T A N I N M. 



Genus MACHETES Cuvier, Regne Anim. i. 181 7, p. 490. 

 Type : M. pugnax (Linn.). 

 Machetes //a^ijr/)s, a fighter ; in allusion to the bird's pugnacious habits. 



Machetes pugnax. RUFF. 



Tringa pugnax Linmeus, Syst. Nat. 1758, p. 148 : 

 Sweden. 



Machetes pugnax (Linn.) B. O. U. List, 1st ed. 1883, p. 171 ; 



Saunders, Manual, 2nd ed. 1899, p. 599. 

 PavonceUa pugnax Sharpe, Cat. Birds B. M. xxiv. 1896, p. 500. 



Pugnax = f ond of fighting. 



Distribution in the British Islands. Chiefly a Bird of 

 Passage, more numerous in autumn than in spring, and rarer 

 on the west coast of Great Britain and in Ireland than on the 

 east. Formerly it bred in many parts of England, but only 

 a few pairs do so now, and only a few remain during the 

 winter. 



General Distribution. The Ruff breeds in Europe and 

 western Asia, from far north in Scandinavia eastwards to 

 Yaigach and the Taimyr Peninsula and southwards to 

 northern France, the steppes of south Russia, and Trans- 

 baikalia. In winter it is found in Africa as far south as 

 Cape Colony ; also in India and Burma. It rarely visits 

 Japan, China, and Borneo, but occasionally wanders to 

 Greenland and eastern North America, and has been noticed 

 as far south as Barbados and Guiana. 



