518 THE FE.\THEBED TRIBES. 



males and a dozen females, and of tlie former there were not two alike. Our intrnsion 

 to choose some birds drove them from their stands, and compelling some to trespass upon 

 the premises of others, produced many battles. It is a remarkable character of these 

 birds, that they feed most greedily the moment they are taken ; a basin of bread and 

 milk, or boiled wheat, placed before them, is instantly contended for, and so pugnacious is 

 their disposition, that they would starve in the midst of plenty, if several dishes of food 

 were not placed amongst them, at a distance from each other. Their actions in fighting 

 are very similar to those of a game-cock ; the head is lowered, and the beak held in a 

 horizontal direction ; the ruff, and indeed every feather, more or less distended, the 

 former sweeping the ground as a shield to defend the more tender parts, the auricles 

 erected, and the tail partly spread ; upon the whole, assuming a most ferocious aspect. 

 AVheu either could obtain a firm hold with the biU, a leap succeeded, accompanied by a 

 stroke of the wing ; but they rarely injiu-ed each other. 



" Few ruffs, comparatively speaking, are taken in the spring, as the old birds 

 frequently pine, and will not readily fatten. The principal time is in September, when 

 the young birds are on the wing ; these are infinitely more delicate for the table, more 

 readily submit to confinement, and are less inclined to fight. If this plan was generally 

 enforced by the proprietors of fen-land, or made a by-law amongst themselves, the breed 

 would not be so reduced ; but there are still fowlers who make two seasons, and by 

 catching the old birds in the spring, especially the females, verify the fable of the goose 

 and the golden eggs ; the destruction of every female in the breeding season is the 

 probable loss of four young. 



" The manner of taking these birds is somewhat different in the two seasons : in the 

 spring the ruffs hill, as it is termed — that is, they assemble upon a rising spot of ground, 

 contiguous to where the reeves propose to deposit their eggs ; there they take their stand, 

 at a small distance from each other, and contend for the females — the nature of poly- 

 gamous birds. Ibis hill, or place of resort for love and battle, is sought for bj^the fowler, 

 who from habit discovers it by the birds having trodden the turf somewhat bare, though 

 not in a circle as usually described. When a hill has been discovered, the fowler repairs 

 to the spot before the break of day, spreads his net, places his decoy birds, and takes his 

 stand at the distance of about one hundred and forty j'ards or more, according to tlie 

 shyness of the birds. The net is what is termed a single clap-net, about seventeen feet 

 long and six feet wide, with a pole at each end : this, by means of uprights fixed in the 

 ground, and each furnished with a pulley, is easily piilled over the birds within reach, 

 and rarely fails taking all within its grasp ; but in oixler to gi\e the jJuH the greatest 

 velocity, the net, if circumstances will permit, is so placed as to fold over with the wind ; 

 however, there are some fowlers who prefer pulling it against the wind for plovers. As 

 the ruffs feed cliiefly by night, they repair to the frequented hill at the dawn of day, 

 nearly all at the same time, and the fowler makes his first pull according to circumstances, 

 takes out his birds, and prepares for the stragglers who traverse the fens and have no 

 adopted hill ; these are caught singly, being enticed by the stuffed birds. These stuffed 

 skins are sometimes so managed as to be moveable by means of a long string, so that a 

 jerk represents a jump, a motion very common among ruffs, who, at the sight of a wan- 

 derer flying by, will leap or flit a yard off the ground, by that moans inducing those on 

 wing to come and aliglit by him. 



" When the reeves begin to lay, both those and the ruffs are least shy, and so easily 

 caught that a fowler assured us he could, witli certainty, take every bii-d in tlie fen in 

 the season. The females continue this boldness, and their temerity increases as they 

 become broody ; oiTthc contrary, we found the males at that time could not be approached 

 ^vlthin the distance of gunshot. The females, the reeves, begin laying their eggs the 

 first or second week in May, and wc liavc found iheir nest with young us early as the 



