SCOLOPACID.E — THE SNIPE FAMILY — MACHETES. 



293 



Tringa equestris. Lath. IikI. Orn. II. 17U0, 730. 



Tringa grciwviccnsis, Lath. t.c. 731. 



Tringa variegata, liiivss. Orn. Bor. 54. 



Tringa planiceps and T. allicqis, Bkehm, Vog. Deutsclil. 



liiif, Yauk. lirit. B. ed. 2, II. G45, fig. ; ed. 3, II. 6;c_', fig. ; et AucT. 



Hah. Tlie Palaearctic Region, straying to Eastern Nortli America (numerous records). 



Sp. Char. Above, varied with black, buff, and gray, the scapulars and tertials exhibiting these 

 colors in oblique bands. Beneath, white, varied on the jugulum and throat. Primaries dark 

 brown, with greenish reflection above ; the inner webs finely mottled toward the base. Outer 

 three tail-feathers plain, the remainder transversely barred. Bill brown ; sides of rump white ; 



Male. 



legs yellow. Male in spring dress with the feathers of the neck greatly developed into a ruff; the 

 face covered with reddish papillae. Adult male : Colors indeterminate, probably no two specimens 

 being exactly alike. As a rule, the "cape" and "ruff" are differently colored ; thus, of the five 

 examples before u."*, the cape and ruff are colored in the following manner : — Cape glossy black, 

 huffy white, yellowish ochraceous. Ruff, chestnut-rufous, glossy black streaked with rufous, mot- 

 tled ferruginous, ochraceous buff, streaked buffy white, and pied with black and pure white. 

 Adult female : No ruff ; heail completely feathered. Plumage transversely banded with black, and 



Female. 



bttff, white, or ferruginnns ; the abdomen and crissum usually immaculate white. Yojing: Back 

 and scapulars brownish black, feathers bordered with buff or ochraceous ; crown ochraceous, 

 streaked with black. Lower parts entirely immaculate, white posteriorly, buffy anteriorly. 



Length, about 10.00 inches: wing, 6.40; taO, 2.60; bill, 1.25; tarsus, 1.75; middle toe and 

 claw, 1.40. 



The Ruff has been so frequently killed in the Eastern United States as to entitle it to a place 

 among North American birds, although it cannot lie said really to belong to our fauna. It is a 

 very curious species, con?])icuous for the combats among the males during the breeding-season. 



