688 BIRDS OF INDIA. 



Length 9| to 10i inches ; wing 6 ; tail 2 T 2 TJ ; tarsus 1 T 6 ^. Weight 

 3£ to 4 ounces. 



In summer plumage the male is richly colored with black, 

 deep rufous, and ashy ; the face covered with yellow or reddish 

 papilla?, the ruff composed of strong feathers, richly variegated, 

 and the breast mixed with white and blue-black. The female 

 has no ruff, and is paler than the male. 



The Ruff and Reeve are found in large numbers in India 

 during the cold season, sometimes assembling in vast flocks. 

 They are frequently found in grass land and damp meadows at 

 some distance from water ; at other times on the edges of tanks. 

 They feed greedily on rice, and are most excellent eating. This 

 bird breeds in Northern and Central Europe and Asia. The males 

 select some particular spot on a rising ground, where, being 

 polygamous, they have regular battles for the possession of 

 the females ; they are very quarrelsome and pugnacious at all 

 times. 



Between Philomachus and Tringa, Gray places the genus Hemi- 

 palama, Bon., formed from Tringa multistriata of Lichtenstein ; 

 and closely following Tringa, T. leucoptera, Gmelin, ranged by 

 Bonaparte under Prosobonia, among the Rails. 



Gen. Tringa, Linnams (as restricted.) 



Syn. Schceniclus, Moehring. 



Bill moderate or short, soft, flexible, straight, or bent down at the 

 tip which is depressed and obtuse, channeled throughout almost 

 to the tip; wings long with the 1st quill longest; tail short, even ; 

 tarsus rather short, scutellate anteriorly ; toes free, or barely united 

 by a small web. 



The first species has the bill somewhat shorter than the others, 

 and perfectly straight, and has been placed in Calidris by Cuvier. 



881. Tringa canutus, Linnaeus. 



Blyth, Cat. 1592 — Gould, Birds of Europe, pi. 324. 

 The Knot. 



Descr. — Winter plumage uniform ash-grey above, the primaries 

 blackish with white shafts ; beneath, white, slightly streaked with 

 grey. 



