MACHETES PUGNAX. (L.) Cuv. 
RUFF. 
Tringa pugnax. — Linn., Syst. Nat. (1766), Vol. I. p. 247. 
Le Chevalier varie. — Buff., Hist. Nat. Ois. (1780), Vol. VII. p. 517. 
Tringa equestris. — Lath., lnd. Orn. (1790), Vol. II. p. 730. 
Tringa rufescens. — Bechst., Gemeinn. Naturg. Deutschl. (1809), Vol. III. p. 332. 
Totanns pugnax (L.). • — Nilss,, Orn. Suec. (1817), Vol. II. p. 71. 
Machetes, Cuv. ( Tringa pugnax , Li). — Reg. Animal. (1817), Vol. I. p. 490. 
Machetes pugnax {Li). — C. L. Brehm (1831), Vog. Deutschl., p. 670. — Shaw, Gen. Zool., Vol. XII. p. no. — Gould, 
Bds. of Europe, Vol. IV. pi. 325. — Degland et Gerbe, Ornith. Europeenne, T. II. p. 211. — Dresser, Hist. Bds. 
of Europe, pt. 69. — Coues, Key N. A. Birds, p. 260. — Shelly, Bds. of Egypt, p. 246. 
Limosa hardwickii. — J. E. Gray, 111 . Ind. Zool. (1835), Vol. II. p. 52. 
Philomachus pugnax {Li). — G. R. Gray, List Gen. Birds (1841), p. 89. — Cassell, Book Bds., Vol. IV. p. 39. 
Machetes minor. — C. L. Brehm, Vogelfang (1855), p. 320. 
^pHE Ruff, as the male bird of this curious species is called, has a very extended range, being distributed over the 
whole of Europe, Africa, and the greater part of Asia, where it has been taken as far east as Kamtschatka. 
Specimens have also been recorded from the United States, but instances of its actual capture on our shores are of rare 
occurrence. 
In Africa it is abundant in winter, and the greater part of the birds are probably winter visitants, although Von 
Heuglin says that he observed the Ruff in Northeast Africa during the breeding season, and states that he killed specimens 
in July and August near the bitter lakes of Suez. During the months of February and March, I have found it common in 
the vicinity of Lake Menzaleh and the Fayoom. It has also been observed in Abyssinia at an altitude of ten thousand feet. 
At the commencement of the breeding season the males collect, apparently to fight for the possession of the females. 
They are very fierce, and show great ardor during their battles, but it is claimed that they rarely injure one another to any 
extent. These engagements take place on rising ground, or small hill, and the males return to the same place each 
morning to renew the contest. The knowledge of this habit is of great advantage to the fowler, who, upon finding one of 
these battle-grounds, spreads his net, places his decoys, and rarely fails to capture a number of the birds. 
Shaw, writing of this species, gives an interesting account of its pugnacious disposition (Shaw, Gen. Zool., Vol. XII. 
p. 1 12). He says: “The most remarkable circumstance attending the history of this species is its quarrelsome disposition, 
which is said to arise from the number of males greatly exceeding that of the females, as upon their arrival in this country 
in the spring, the males each fix upon a small hillock or dry, grassy spot in the marshes, about which he runs around till he 
has almost trodden the space bare, and the moment a female comes in sight, all the males within a certain distance 
commence a general battle, placing their beaks on the ground, spreading the feathers of the neck, and using the same action 
as a cock ; and their combats are described as both desperate and of long continuance, but at the end the female generally 
becomes the prize of the victor. . . . An erroneous opinion prevails that the fattening of Ruffs, when in confinement, 
should take place in the dark, lest the admission of light should set them to fighting ; the fact is, that every bird, even when 
kept in a room, takes its stand as it would in the open air, and if another invades its circle a battle ensues. A whole 
roomful of them may be set into fierce contest by compelling them to shift their stations ; but after the cause has subsided, 
