MACHETES PUGNAX. 
(THE RUFF.) 
Tringa pugnax, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 247 (1766); Middendorff, Sibir. Boise, 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). 
Totanus pugnax (Linn.), Nilss. Orn. Suec. ii. p. 71 (1817). 
Machetes pugnax (Linn.), C. L. Brehm, Yog. 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, 18/8, 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. 11. 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 ; 
Greenwich Sandpiper ; Equestrian Sandpiper, Latham ; Combatiente, Spanish (Saundeis) , 
Kamphaan, Dutch ; Kampf-Strandlaufer, German ; Bagnolc Bibicz (“ Champion 
Plover ”j, Transylvania (Danford). Geh wala, Hind.; Chonchili, Sindh (Blyth) ; Habib 
el tchibib (“ the friend of the Godwit ”), Moorish. 
Adult male. 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, Yenesay valley, lat. 70|°, July). Throat, fore neck, 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 . scapula/ s 
rufous-buffi, the feathers marked with longitudinal patches and terminal patches of black; wing-coveits li^ht 
brown, pale-edged ; the innermost greater coverts and elongated tertials concolorous with the scapulars , piimni n s 
brown, with white shafts ; secondaries paler, tipped with white, and with the inner web's whitish ; the tertials 
with a conspicuous terminal black patch ; back olive-brown, the feathers slightly pale-odged ; some of the upper 
tail-covert feathers rufous-yellow with black tips; tail brown, the four centre feathers tipped with black, and tin 
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, uhich 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, 
