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The ruff (''Philomachus pugnax'') is a medium-sized wading bird that breeds in marshes and wet meadows across northern Eurasia. This highly gregarious sandpiper is migratory and sometimes forms huge flocks in its winter grounds, which include southern and western Europe, Africa, southern Asia and Australia. It is usually considered to be the only member of its genus, and the broad-billed and sharp-tailed sandpipers are its closest relatives. The ruff is a long-necked, pot-bellied bird. This species shows marked sexual dimorphism; the male is much larger than the female (the reeve), and has a breeding plumage that includes brightly coloured head tufts, bare orange facial skin, extensive black on the breast, and the large collar of ornamental feathers that inspired this bird's English name. The female and the non-breeding male have grey-brown upperparts and mainly white underparts. Three differently plumaged types of male, including a rare form that mimics the female, use a variety of strategies to obtain mating opportunities at a lek, and the colourful head and neck feathers are erected as part of the elaborate main courting display. The female has one brood per year and lays four eggs in a well-hidden ground nest, incubating the eggs and rearing the chicks, which are mobile soon after hatching, on her own. Predators of wader chicks and eggs include mammals such as foxes, feral cats and stoats, and birds such as large gulls, corvids and skuas. The ruff forages in wet grassland and soft mud, probing or searching by sight for edible items. It primarily feeds on insects, especially in the breeding season, but it will consume plant material, including rice and maize, on migration and in winter. Classified as "least concern" on the IUCN Red List criteria, the global conservation concerns are relatively low because of the large numbers that breed in Scandinavia and the Arctic. However, the range in much of Europe is contracting because of land drainage, increased fertiliser use, the loss of mown or grazed breeding sites, and over-hunting. This decline has seen it listed in the ''Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds'' (AEWA). == Taxonomy and nomenclature == The ruff is a wader in the large family Scolopacidae, the typical shorebirds. It is the sole member of the genus ''Philomachus'', and recent research suggests that its closest relatives are the broad-billed sandpiper, ''Limicola falcinellus'', and the sharp-tailed sandpiper, ''Calidris acuminata''.〔 Figure 7 shows relevant relationships.〕 It has no recognised subspecies or geographical variants.〔Hayman (1986) 386–387〕 This species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his ''Systema Naturae'' in 1758 as ''Tringa pugnax''.〔Linnaeus (1758) 148〕 It was moved into its current genus by German naturalist Blasius Merrem in 1804.〔Merrem (1804) no.168 col.542〕 Both parts of the binomial name refer to the aggressive behaviour of the bird at its mating arenas; ''Philomachus'' is derived from Ancient Greek ''philo-'' "loving" and ''machē'' "battle",〔Liddell (1980)〕 and ''pugnax'' from the Latin term for "combative".〔Simpson (1978) 883〕 The original English name for this bird, dating back to at least 1465, is the ''ree'', perhaps derived from a dialectical term meaning "frenzied";〔Lockwood (1984) 127–128〕 a later name ''reeve'', which is still used for the female, is of unknown origin, but may be derived from the shire-reeve, a feudal officer, likening the male's flamboyant plumage to the official's robes. The current name was first recorded in 1634, and is derived from the ruff, an exaggerated collar fashionable from the mid-sixteenth century to the mid-seventeenth century, since the male bird's neck ornamental feathers resemble the neck-wear.〔Cocker (2005) 211–212〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「ruff」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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