RUFF. 427 



tarsal joint. Toes, three before and one behind ; the outer toe united to the 

 middle one by a small web ; hind toe short, bare'y touching the ground. During 

 the breeding-season the head and neck of the male are adorned with long plumes, 

 which, when raised, form a large ruff around the head, and the face is covered 

 with small fleshy warts or papil'a;. 



The PiUFF differs in so many points from the species 

 included in the genera Totanus, Scolopax, and Tringn, tliat 

 the generic division and term, Machetes, "^^ in reference to 

 its pugnacious hahits, proposed for it by Cuvier, has been 

 admitted by the majority of systematic writers. This species, 

 which up to the present time is the only one of the genus 

 known, is distinguished by the periodical assumption by the 

 males of the ruff about the neck, which has led to the 

 English name. Scarcely any two males have the ruff alike, 

 while the females are uniform in colour, or nearly so ; the 

 males are polygamous, and about one-third larger than the 

 females, in both of which points the Piuff differs from the 

 characters of the genera named. 



The Ruff may now be considered as only a passing visitor 

 to this country, making its appearance in April and dej^arting 

 again in autumn, at which time the young birds of the year, in 

 small flocks, are also seen, and single birds are occasionally 

 killed in winter. Formerly many Ruffs and Reeves, the latter 

 being the name applied to the female, remained with us 

 during the summer, and bred in the fens of Somersetshire, 

 Cambridgeshire, Huntingdon, Norfolk, and Lincolnshire ; 

 but the two latter are the only counties in which it has been 

 known to nest of late years. Drainage, and the spread of 

 cultivation over its favourite haunts, are perhaps the main 

 reasons, but its wholesale capture in spring for the tables of 

 the rich, when * game ' is out of season, is also responsible 

 for a diminution which cannot be repaired by the mere 

 existence during the past few years of an effete Wild Birds' 

 Preservation Act. 



Early in the present century Montagu made a tour through 

 Lincolnshire, that he might become intimately acquainted 

 with all the history of this singular species that could be 



* Pugnator. 



