THE RUFFS. 
271 
Machetes pignax, MacgilL Brit. B. iv. p. ^ 7 1 (1852); Dresser, 
B. Eur. viii. p. 87, pis. 557, 558 (1878) ; B. O. U. List 
Brit. B. p. 171 (1883); Saunders, ed. Yarrells Brit. B. 
iii. p. 426 (1883) ; id. Man. Brit. B. p. 585 (1889). 
Totanus pugnax, Seebohm, Hist. Brit. B. iii. p. 113 (1885). 
Favoticclla pugnax, Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xxiv. p. 500 
(1896). LXXXVin.) 
Adult Male (Ruff). — As every male bird varies in this species, 
it is impossible to give any exact description of this sex. In 
the “Catalogue of Birds,” however, I have endeavoured to 
classify the different styles of plumage which the males 
cissumc* j 
The main divisions into which the males may be separated 
are two viz., those with the ruff uniform and those with the 
ruff barred In the former section the ruff is white or black, 
oran-e-buff or chestnut. The occipital plumes vary from 
white to black, blue-black, purplish-black, greenish-black, 
rufous, chestnut, or sandy-buff. . , • .u a- 
In those males which belong to the section wherein the riiff 
is barred, there are many types. The ruff is glossy greenish- 
black, barred with rufous ; or rufous, barred with blue-black , 
or sandy-buff, broadly barred with purplish-black ; or bufiy- 
white, with purplish-black bars or spots; or white, narrowly 
barred or vermiculated with black; or black, barred with 
white ; or purplish-black, streaked with white. 
In the barred forms, the occipital tufts also vary. They 
mav be greenish-black ; rufous ; rufous barred with purplish- 
black ■ greenish-black, barred with sandy-buff and purplish- 
black • buffy-white, barred with black ; white, spotted or barred 
with black ; pale cinnamon ; pure white ; black, narrowly barred 
with white’; or black, vermiculated with brown. 
Between these well-marked variations numbers of inter- 
mediate forms may be found, but the above appear to me to 
be the main types of plumage indulged in by the Ruff. In ad- 
dition to the frill and ornamental ruff, the males also lose the 
feathers of the face, which becomes covered with tubercles of 
various tints, corresponding, according to Mr. Abel Chapman, 
to the colour of the ruff itself. 
Adult Mal« ia Wintar Plumage. — Devoid of all ornamental 
