874 MACHETES PUGXAX. 



head, and sides of the ruff tinged with buff, and speckled on the head and nape with black ; chest and flank- 

 plumes blue-black, some of the feathers partly white ; abdomen, flanks, and under tail-coverts white ; hind 

 neck and scapulars creamy white, handsomely dappled with black, many of the feathers with a terminal patch of 

 the same, tertials barred with black and rufous-buff; some of the innermost greater coverts buff, mottled with 

 black ; wings as in the last ; back brown ; tail brown, the outer feathers with black subterminal bars and indentations 

 of buff ; face much more feathered than in the last ; under wing white. 



The above examples furnish instances of the two extremes of coloration in this extraordinarily variable phase of 

 plumage. Between these two every conceivable variety of plumage exists*. Light varieties are perhaps more 

 common than black ; the backs of these are mostly rufous-yellow or buff, more or less extensively marked with 

 black. The following is the colouring of some of the ruffs, including the head and throat : — 



c) Throat and ruff white ; head and nape tawny yellow, mottled with black. 



('>) Throat, ruff, and head white, the former boldly barred with shining blue-black ; head striped and the nape mottled 

 with the same (scapulars the same, and the back barred with black aud tawny). 



(c) Throat and ruff white ; neck ferruginous ; head and hind neck purple-black. 



(d) Head, neck, and ruff light ferruginous; throat white (under surface white, patched with black and tawny). 



(<') Head and nape rusty buff, mottled with black, paling on the throat and ruff into buff barred with black rusty- 

 edged bands (back and scapulars rusty buff, handsomely marked with crescentic black bands). 



(/) Head, neck, throat, and ruff creamy white, with a black gorget, and the ruff-feathers with terminal spots of black; 

 hind neck speckled with black. 



Of the dark varieties the following may be instanced : — 



(") Puff and neck black; chin, head, and nape white, the latter with mottlings and shafts of black. 



(h) Head and nape green-black; throat, fore neck, and ruff black, with narrow wavy bars of white (breast, inter- 

 scapulars, and scapulars coal-black). 



(<■) Head and nape black, with many ferruginous cross lines ; throat, neck, aud ruff rich rusty buff, barred with black. 



A<lnlt f, i, ml,'. Wing 5-8 to 6-3 inches ; tail 2-4 to 2-G ; tarsus 1-5 to 1-6 ; bill to gape 1-25 to 1-4. 



( \ alley of the Petchora, June.) Ko ruff; head, hind neck, back, and wings brown ; the head and centres of the hind- 

 neck feathers very dark, with pale edges ; wing-covert feathers likewise pale-edged ; scapulars black, tipped with 

 whitish, and margined laterally with dusky buff; epulis and primary-coverts dark brown; secondaries tipped 

 with white ; lateral upper tail-coverts white, the centre feathers blackish brown, barred with rufous and white ; tail 

 brown, the lateral feathers mottled with black and tawny yellow on the outer webs ; chin whitish ; fore neck 

 whity brown, washed with rufescent, many of the feathers with two black subterminal spots ; uuderparts dusky 

 white, greyish on the chest aud flanks, with a few blackish rufous-margined feathers at the sides of the chest. 



Females vary a good deal in summer plumage. A July specimen from the Tenesay has the upper surface, rump, 

 scapulars, and wing-coverts chiefly black, the hind-neck feathers margined with rufous-grey, and scapulars, upper 

 tail-coverts, and wing-coverts handsomely marked with crescentic bars of rufous; chin and throat buff; fore-neck 

 feathers black, with rufous-grey tips. Another from the Lower Petchora has the head fulvous, striped with 

 black ; the hind neck, scapulars, tertials, and wing-coverts black, with clearly defined edges of rufous-buff, 

 recalling Bomewhat the markings of a Snipe; throat white; fore neck brownish fulvous, the feathers being 

 brownish grey, tipped with fulvous. 



Adult male (winter). Wants the ruff and facial warts ; chin white ; fore neck greyish brown ; upper surface brown, 

 the feathers centred with blackish, and the scapulars often handsomely marked with black and edged with 

 rufous ; interscapular region with triangular dark marks ; central tail-feathers edged with rufous ; the fore neck, 

 chest, and flanks generally with dark bars, edged with rufous-buff. 



Young, nestling. Above greyish buff ; a broad black stripe down the back, with a white mesial line, and on each side 

 a broad band of white ; head with a diamond-shaped black mark, divided by a central stripe ; a dark stripe through 

 the lores and ear-coverts and passing round the nape ; nape brown, with a dark bar across the hind neck, and 

 two lateral ones continued along the side of the body to the rump, where they widen, forming, with the aforesaid 



' Montagu, in his interesting account of a visit to a fowler in the fen-districts, says (Orn. Diet. p. 44M), "We 

 were shown into a room where there were about seven dozen males and a dozen females ; and of the former there were 

 not two alike." 



