396 
BIRDS OF BUITISH BURMAH. 
Length of female 6'5 inclies^ tail 1*7, wing 4*1, tarsus -8, bill from gape 1, 
breadth of bill near tip "45. 
The description of the bird in winter plumage is taken from two speci- 
mens shot in Arrakan by Mr. Shopland in November and January 
respectively. 
The Spoon-billed Stint_, remarkable for the curious shape of its bill, is 
apparently rare. Mr. Shopland, at my request, carefully looked for 
this bird whenever he went out shooting on the coast near Akyab, and 
this resulted in his procuring two specimens which he very liberally pre- 
sented to me ; they are now deposited in the British Museum. Dr. Arm- 
strong procured one specimen near Elephant Point at the entrance to the 
Rangoon river, and subsequently two more at Amherst in Tenasserim. 
It has been recorded from Arrakan several times, and probably this 
Wader is not really so rare as is generally supposed. 
The range of this bird as given by Mr. Harting may be summarized as 
follows : the sea-coast from the mouths of the Ganges down the eastern 
side of the Bay of Bengal to Amherst in Tenasserim ; Amoy in China, and 
Behring's Straits, North-east Asia. 
With a known range of this extent it must necessarily be found over a 
considerable portion of Eastern and South-eastern Asia. 
Little is known regarding the habits of this species. Mr. Shopland 
informed me that he generally saw it on the sea-coast in company 
with large numbers of other Stints, and it was distinguishable from them 
by its very pure white underplumage. 
Genus MACHETES, Cuv. 
738. MACHETES PUGNAX. 
THE RUFF. 
Tringa pugnax, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 247. Philomachus pugnax, Jerd. B. Ind. 
ii. p. 687 ; Bl. 8f Wald. B. Burm. p. 156 ; Butler, S. F. iv. p. 17. Machetes 
pugnax, Dresser, Birds Eur. viii, p. 87, pi. Hume ^ Dav. S. F. vi. p. 460 ; 
Hume, 8. F. viii. p. 112 ; Scully, S. F. viii. p. 357 ; Begge, Birds Ceylon, p. 873 : 
Oates, S. F. x. p. 240. 
Description. — Winter plumage. Forehead^ lores^ cheeks^ chin and throat 
generally pure white j crown and nape ashy brown_, the feathers edged with 
whitish ; the upper plumage ashy brown^ each feather with a dark centre 
and with the edges ashy white ; scapulars and tertiaries richer brown, with 
subterminal blackish patches ; quills brown, the secondaries broadly white 
