374 TOTANUS. 



three parts may be either of the colours named, except that the breast and flanks are 

 never white, but the ruff when black may be barred with either white or chestnut. 



The Ruff is the only polygamous bird amongst the CharadriidEe, and the females are 

 said greatly to outnumber the males. Under these circumstances it is possible that the 

 wonderful variation of colour may be due to Sexual Selection, but why similar variations 

 are not produced in other polygamous species it is not easy to explain. 



The remarkable variation of colour may possibly have been caused by interbreeding. 

 It is reasonable to imagine that the Ruff became isolated in half a dozen localities at some 

 period of its life, where it became partially differentiated into half a dozen species, which 

 subsequently met and by interbreeding with each other produced the variety of plumage 

 we now find. It is possible that the Ruff may be an instance of the swamping effect on 

 unimportant variations of interbreeding, in the process of being accomplished, not as it 

 usually takes place, by nipping them in the bud as they arise, but, having been preveuted 

 by isolation from so doing, coming in at the last moment and crushing them before the 

 differentiation had become complete and rendered them permanent. 



But unfortunately for this theory the aberrant character of the Ruff consists much in 

 the variety of its colours, but more in the development of the feathers of the neck into a 

 ruff and the production of tubercles on the sides of the head. The fact that both these 

 peculiarities are only found during the breeding-season and are confined to the male, 

 coupled with the polygamous habits of the bird, seems to confirm the other theory that the 

 eccentricities of the Ruff are due to sexual selection. 



Synonymy. Tringa pugnax, Linnevs. Syst. Nat. i. p. 148 (1758) ; Brisson, Orn. v. p. 240 (1760) ; Linn. Syst. 



Nat. i. p. 251 (1766). 



Tringa totanus cinerens, Brisson, Orn. v. p. 203 (1760, winter plumage). 



Tringa littorea, Linneus, Syst. Nat. i. p. 251 (1766, winter plumage). 



Tringa grenovicensis, Latham, Gen. Si/n. Suppl. i. p. 293 (1787). 



Pavoncella pugnax [Linn.), Leach, Syst. Cat. Mamm. $$c. Brit. Mus. p. 29 (1816). 



Totanus pugnax [Linn.), Nilsson, Orn. Suec. ii. p. 71 (1817). 



Machetes pugnax (Linn.), Cuvier, Regn. An. i. p. 490 (1817). 



Totanus indica, ") 



,,.,..( Gray, III. Ind. Zool. ii. pi. 52. figs. 1, 2 (1834). 

 Lnnosa hardwickn, J " x o > \ / 



Vhilomachus pugnax (Linn.), Gray, List Gen. B. p. 89 (1841). 



Machetes optatus, Hodgson, Gray's Zool. Miscell. p. 86 (1844). 



Literature. Plates.— Daub. PI. Enl. nos. 300, 305, 306 ; Gould, Birds of Gt. Brit. iv. pi. 61. 



Habits.— Seebohm, British Birds, iii. p. 113. 

 Eggs. — Seebohm, British Birds, pi. 29. figs. 6, 7, 9. 





