TWO FATHER BIRDS. 



YOU have discovered before now that birds, Hke 

 people, have very different habits and characters. 

 Even in the birds about you, the difference between 

 a lazy Cowbird mother and such a careful, loving 

 parent as the Grouse is very noticeable. 



The birds I am going now to tell you about are 

 natives of countries far from America. One is well 

 known to you ; some of you have perhaps seen an 

 Ostrich at a circus. The other is not nearly so 

 famous, but he is almost as interesting. He belongs 

 to the sandpiper family, and is called the Ruff. 



The Ruff's name comes probably from a wonderful 

 collar of feathers which grow each spring beneath and 

 around his throat. They are so thick that they form 

 a shield, and the bird uses them as such. The Ruffs 

 choose places to which they return each night simply 

 to fence with their bills. These bills are long but not 

 very sharp, so that they never injure each other, but 

 they fight as fiercely as if they meant to kill one 

 another. Many male birds of other kinds fight in the 

 breeding season, but with the Ruffs it seems to be 

 merely for the sake of fighting, for they keep it up 

 even after the female is sitting on her eggs. Instead 

 of keeping near her, as many males do, to protect her 



