174 LOST AND VANISHING BIRDS 



These passing migrants, however, are of no 

 service in recruiting the indigenous stock, and as 

 soon as that becomes extirpated, the Ruff as a 

 breeding species will be lost to us for ever. Formerly 

 the Ruff was so plentiful in the Fens that it was 

 regularly snared and fattened for the table ; but 

 the drainage of these vast areas has robbed the 

 bird of its home for the most part, and senseless, 

 wanton persecution is doing the rest. In many 

 respects the Ruff is one of the most singular of 

 known birds, and one deserving of every effort 

 being made for its retention in the British avifauna. 

 There are many tracts of land still left suited to 

 the bird's requirements ; all that is necessary is 

 to protect it, especially during the breeding season. 

 Beyond our limits the Ruff is a very wide- 

 ranging species, being found during the breeding 

 season over the greater part of Europe and Asia. 

 In Europe it is said to breed as far north as land 

 extends, and as far south as the valley of the 

 Danube ; in Asia, up to similar limits, across the 

 continent to Kamtschatka, and south to the Kirghiz 

 Steppes, Western Dauria, and possibly the valley 

 of the Amoor. It is a well-known migrant in the 

 basins of the Mediterranean, Black, Caspian, and 

 Aral Seas, and winters in the African portion of 



