6oO RUFF. 



As a straggler this species has been met with in the Faeroes and 

 Iceland, occasionally in Canada and the Eastern United States, 

 once in Barbados, and once on the Upper Orinoco in South America. 

 It breeds far north in Scandinavia, and in Russia up to Waigats 

 Island, while southward, it nests in Poland, Germany, Holland, 

 Belgium, and the north of France. On migration it is found over the 

 rest of Europe, its winter-range commencing on the southern side of 

 the Mediterranean, touching the Canaries and Madeira, and extending 

 down both sides of Africa to Cape Colony. In Siberia the Ruff 

 nests up to lat. 75° N., and during the cold season it visits Turkestan, 

 India, Burma, and occasionally Borneo, China and Japan. 



Rufifs are polygamous, and in spring they " hill " ; that is, they 

 assemble upon knolls of ground, where, erecting the long feathers, 

 from which their name is derived, they spar, bill to bill — osten- 

 tatiously, but with little damage to themselves — for the females. 

 The latter make their nests about the middle of May in tussocks of 

 grass &:c., on the drier part of swamps ; the eggs, 4 in number, are 

 greyish-green, blotched and spotted with reddish-brown : measure- 

 ments I -8 by I "2 in. The males keep apart and appear to take no 

 share in rearing the young, which are somewhat less able to take 

 care of themselves than are the nestlings of most Waders ; but in 

 autumn flocks are formed, sometimes of very large numbers. The 

 food usually consists of insects and their larvae, worms &c., but 

 seeds of aquatic plants, rice, and other vegetable substances are 

 freely eaten, while in confinement the birds used to be fattened on 

 boiled wheat or bread-and-milk. The note is a low tu-whit, 

 tu-whit. 



In spring the male sheds the feathers of the face, and caruncles 

 take their place ; curled tufts of feathers appear on the sides of 

 the head ; and by the beginning of May a shield-like erectile ruff is 

 developed, which lasts through June. Every variety of purplish-black, 

 chestnut, grey and white is shown on this ruff and also on the 

 feathers of the back, each bird annually regaining the same colour. 

 Length 12-5 in. (bill 1-5), wing 7-25 in. ; ordinary weight 6 ozs., 

 but of a fatted bird 10 ozs. After the moult the male resembles the 

 female (in the foreground) in plumage, though he is about one-third 

 larger ; the neck and upper breast are buff, lower breast and belly 

 dull white ; primaries dusky-brown, feathers of the back dark brown 

 with buff margins ; the latter being especially conspicuous in young 

 birds. Length of the female 10 in., wing barely 6 in. A white 

 Reeve is in the Norwich Museum (J. H. Gurney). 



