MACHETES PUGNAX. 



(THE RUFF.) 



Tringa pugnax, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 247 (1766) ; Middendorff, Sibir. Reise, ii. p. 218 

 (1853); Schlegel, Mus. P.-B. Scolopaces, p. 51 (1864); Legge, Ibis, 1878, p. 204 (first 

 record from Ceylon). 



Tringa equestris, Lath. Ind. Orn. ii. p. 730 (1790). 



Totanns pugnax (Linn.), Nilss. Orn. Suec. ii. p. 71 (1817). 



Machetes pugnax (Linn.), C. L. Brehm, Vog. Deutschl. p. 670 (1831) ; Gould, B. of Eur. iv. 

 pi. 328 (1837) ; Shelley, B. of Egypt; p. 246 (1872) ; Gould, B. of Gt. Brit. iv. pi. 61 

 (1873) ; Durnford, Ibis, 1874, p. 399 ; Irby, B. of Gibraltar, p. 170 (1875) ; Seebohm & 

 Harvie Brown, Ibis, 1876, p. 292 ; Blakiston & Pryer, Ibis, 1878, p. 221 ; Hume, Str. 

 Feath. 1878 (B. of Tenass.), p. 460 ; Dresser, B. of Eur. pts. 69, 70 (1878) ; Hume 

 (List of Ind. B.), Str. Feath. 1879, p. 112 ; Seebohm, Ibis, 1879, p. 151. 



Philomachus pugnax (Linn.), G. R. Gray, Gen. B. p. 89 (1841) ; Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. 

 p. 270 (1849) ; Jerdon, B. of Ind. iii. p. 689 (1864); Layard, B. of S. Africa, no. 619 

 (1867) ; Hume, Str. Feath. 1873, p. 239 ; id. Lahore to Yarkand, p. 287 (1873) ; Von 

 Heuglin, Orn. N.Ost-Afr. ii. p. 1180 (1874) ; Butler & Hume, Str. Feath. 1876, p. 17. 



Le Chevalier varie, Buffon, Hist. Nat. Ois. vii. p. 517 ; Chevalier commun, Buffon ; 

 Greentvich Sandpiper ; Equestrian #«w/^j)£r, Latham ; Combatiente, Spanish (Saunders) ; 

 Kamphaan, Dutch ; Kampf-Strandlaufer, German ; Bajnok Bibicz (" Champion 

 Plover "j, Transylvania (Danford). Geh ivala, Hind. ; Chonchili, Sindh (Blyth) ; Habib 

 el tchibib (" the friend of the Godwit "), Moorish. 



Adult mule. Length 12-0 to 13-0 inches ; wing 7-2 to 7'4 ; tail 3'0 to 3-3 ; tarsus 1-7 to 2-1 ; middle toe 1-2 to 1-3 ; 

 bill to gape 1-4 to 1-6. " Weight 6 oz." {Jerdon). 



The above measurements are taken from a large series from Siberia, Holland, and ^Northern Russia. There is but 

 little variation, except in the tarsus, in which a considerable difference in size is apparent. The average length of 

 wing is 7'2 inches. 



Iris dark brown ; legs and feet dusky fleshy yellow ; claws black ; facial tubercles or warts yellowish. 



Male in breeding-plumage {black variety, Tenesay valley, lat. 70|°, July). Throat, fore ueck, chest, and upper breast 

 black, glossed on the neck and ruff with a steel-blue and green lustre ; the feathers at the upper part of the side of 

 the neck are elongated and descend to the shoulders, forming a large ruff; forehead and face covered with minute 

 warts ; the crown, nape, hind neck, and interscapulars with the feathers mottled with purple-black, increasing 

 on the back into conspicuous patches ; the plumes below the nape slightly elongated and joining the ruff ; scapulars 

 rufous-buff, the feathers marked with longitudinal patches and terminal patches of black ; wing-coverts light 

 brown, pale-edged ; the innermost greater coverts and elongated tertials concolorous with the scapulars ; primaries 

 brown, with white shafts ; secondaries paler, tipped with white, and with the inner webs whitish ; the tertials 

 with a conspicuous terniinal black patch ; back olive-brown, the feathers slightly pale-edged ; some of the upper 

 tail-covert feathers rufous-yellow with black tips ; tail brown, the four centre feathers tipped with black, and the 

 central pair much mottled with rufous-yellow ; the extremities of the feathers white ; abdomen, vent, lower 

 flanks, and under tail-coverts white ; on each side of the breast there is an elongated tuft of feathers, which are 

 black with white margins ; axillaries and under wing white, marked along the edge with brown. 



White variety (same locality and date). Head, throat, fore neck, ruff , and elongated nuchal feathers white; the throat, 



