I900.] Patten. — The Natural History of the Ruff. 207 



usually flies low and rapidl)% but sometimes it ascends to a 

 considerable height. 



According to Yarrell this bird formerly bred in Somerset- 

 shire, Cambridgeshire, Huntingdon, Norfolk, and lyincoln- 

 shire. According to Thompson there is no record of it as 

 having bred ever in Ireland or Scotland. The Ruff has 

 practically ceased to breed now in the British Isles. R. J. 

 Howard' thinks they bred in Lancashire as recently as 1884. 



General Geographical Distribution. — The Ruff nests as high 

 north as 75*^ N. lat., in Siberia, Scandinavia, and Russia ; and 

 according to Saunders it breeds also in Poland^, Germany, 

 Holland, Belgium, and N. France. 



When migrating it is widely distributed over Europe. It 

 winters from the south of the Mediterranean as far as Cape 

 Colon}', also ini^outhern and Eastern Asia. 



An interesting note on the nesting habits of the Ruff on 

 the Munio River (the natural Russian-Swedish frontier) is 

 mentioned by Sutton Davies.'^ He sa3\s — "The Ruff was very 

 numerous in the marshes round Kaaresuando, where we 

 obtained eggs.^ As one la}^ watching the birds in the 

 marsh they w^ould keep passing and repassing over our heads, 

 uttering a low^ croak." We have seen that usually the Ruff is 

 quite silent. 



Food. — According to Yarrell the natural food consists of 

 insects, their larvae and worms, mixed with fine gravel. 

 Collet found seeds of a sea-shore plant in birds shot in 

 autumn near Christiania. Stevenson found in the stomach 

 small bronze wdnged beetles and earwigs."* 



Cordeaux^ noted Ruffs in company with young Curlew 

 feeding on the dried dung of the Great Cotes Marshes (I^incoln- 

 shire). He maintains that in the dry season these birds live 

 chiefly on coleopterous insects obtained in this locality. T. E- 

 Gunn found in the stomach remains of insects and fibrous 

 substance, and in the gullet a caddis-worm with an entire case. 



' Zoologist, 1884, p. 467, 



^ Zoologist, 1895, p. 326 to 335. 



3 Four constitutes the clutch. Colour of eggs is greyish buff, blotched 

 and spotted with reddish brown (Payne Gallwey). 



4 See Norgate on "The Food of Birds, " Zool.^ 1881, vol. v., 3rd series, 

 p. 411. 



5 Zoologist, 18S4, p. 446. 



