Their Eggs and Nests. 175 



coasts, and as far as I have seen is b}' no means diffi- 

 cult to approach. But its breeding-place is very much 

 more to the north than any portion of the British 

 Islands extends. The male in his nuptial dress is a 

 very much gayer gentleman than after his annual 

 honeymoon is over. 



SANDERLING— (r^/Z-^r/j areitarid). 



Common Sanderling, Sanderling Plover. — A by no 

 means unusual visitant to most parts of our coasts, 

 and sometimes met with also at the edge of large 

 pieces of fresh water, but never known hitherto to 

 have bred with us. It is found associating most com- 

 monly, though in small parties for the most part, with 

 the Dunlin, and other similar shore-haunting birds. 



RUFF— ( Machetes pugnax). 



Female, Reeve. — Time was, and not nearly a century 

 ago either, when one fenman could take six dozen of 

 these birds in a single day. Now, I fear, he would 

 scarcely get that number in several years. The Ruff 

 is, however, still known to breed annually in some 

 parts of Lincolnshire and Norfolk. The variety of 

 plumage, no less than the very remarkable ruff or 

 feathery appendage about the neck of the male in 

 the breeding season, is quite sufficient to make this a 

 very conspicuous bird among our truly native birds. 

 Scarcely any two males in an assemblage of some 

 dozens can, in some cases, be picked out as possessing 

 exactly the same plumage. The breeding habits, or 

 some of them, observed in this bird are also very 



