BIRDS OF DUMFRIESSHIRE 
of Solway," says of the Sanderling : " Though never very 
abundant this species is of general distribution in small 
parties The whiteness of their plumage makes them very 
easily seen and identified Whether they always remained 
with us in winter may be a matter of doubt, so far at least 
as any considerable number is concerned."* The great 
majority of birds which visit our shores on the autumnal 
migration, pass on to more southern chmes ; but the com- 
paratively few which remain with us through the winter, 
may be found in smaU parties frequenting suitable spots, 
where there is a mixture of shingle and ooze. 
The species breeds in Greenland and arctic America, and 
possibly in north-east Siberia as far west as Taimyr. On 
passage it is common on parts of the coast of Europe, except 
the Baltic, whHe in winter it is so widely scattered in its 
distribution that it may be said to be almost cosmopohtan. 
THE RUFF. Machetes pugnax (Linnaeus). 
An irregular visitor on the autumn-migration, occurring at fairly long 
intervals. 
The Ruff (male) and Reeve (female) must have been regular 
autumn-visitants to our shores in former years for, Sir 
William Jardine, writing of the status of the species in 
Great Britain, says: "When the breeding season has 
terminated, and the young have attained their first plumage, 
the males having lost their sexual adornments, a dispersion 
from the fens takes place. It is after this period, about the 
end of August or the beginning of September and for the 
next two months, that they are most frequently met with in 
Scotland, either as straggHng birds passing along the moors, 
or on the sea-shore, where they continue, often intermixed 
with plovers, and are to be met with in small parties 
We have often shot them ... on the banks of the Solway, 
* Trans. Nat. Hist. Soc. Qlasg., 1905, Vol. VIII., p. 54. 
