74 TRINGIN^E. MACHETES. 



larged, but a little decurved, at the end ; tail graduated ; tar- 

 sus eight- twelfths long ; bill dusky and feet greenish-brown. 

 Plumage in winter deep brown above, each feather with a 

 blackish-brown streak ; the fore part of the neck and a por- 

 tion of the breast reddish-grey ; the throat and lower parts 

 white ; the middle tail-coverts dusky, the lateral white ; the 

 middle tail-feathers greyish-brown, the rest pale grey, the 

 outer white externally. In summer the feathers of the upper 

 parts deep black, margined with red ; the forehead and fore 

 part of the neck reddish-grey, finely streaked with black ; the 

 throat and lower parts white ; the lateral tail-feathers white, 

 the medial black edged with red. Young with the upper 

 parts variegated w r ith greyish-brown and yellowish-grey, the 

 feathers being edged with the latter colour, within which is 

 a band of dusky ; a white streak over the eye ; the tail-feathers 

 tipped with reddish, except the outer ; the lower part of the 

 neck anteriorly reddish- grey. 



Male, 5f, Hi, 3^,^, fa fa fa Female, 6. 



This species is distinguished from Tringa minuta by being 

 somewhat smaller, by having the tarsus much shorter, and 

 the tail somewhat wedge-shaped at the end, in place of being 

 doubly emarginate. It has been obtained in the counties of 

 Devon, Sussex, and Norfolk; and on the Continent is pretty 

 generally dispersed. 



Tringa Temminckii, Temm. Man. d'Ornith. ii. 622. 

 Tringa Temminckii, Temminck's Sandpiper, MacGillivray, 

 Brit. Birds, iv. 



GENUS XCVL MACHETES. RUFF. 



The bird known in Britain by the name of Ruff, Tringa 

 pugnax of Linna3us, has been separated from the Tringae by 

 Cuvier to form a genus by itself, bearing the name of 

 Machetes or Fighter, in allusion to the combative propensity 

 of the males during the breeding season. The bill differs 

 in no appreciable degree from that of Tringa cinerea ; the 

 general form approaches to that of the genus Limosa ; the 

 legs, and especially the toes, are longer than in Tringa, and 

 the latter indicate some approach to the Snipes. Bill scarcely 

 longer than the head, straight, slender, soft, and somewhat 

 flexible ; upper mandible with the ridge convex, flattened 

 toward the end, the tip slightly enlarged, obtuse, the nasal 

 groove extending nearly to the end ; lower mandible with 



