io6 



PLOVER GROUP 



their extinction. Although the fen-lands of Somersetshire, Cambridge- 

 shire, and Huntingdonshire, as well as certain districts in Yorkshire and 

 Northumberland, were originally included within the breeding-area of 

 the ruff, it is only in those of "\'orkshire, Lincolnshire, and Norfolk that 

 the nesting of these birds continued till comparatively recent times, 



and of these haunts, the north 

 fen near Spalding, and the 

 cast and west fens between 

 Boston and Spilsby, were the 

 last great strongholds of the 

 species. Ruffs, after a long 

 ^^ "f "^^^ ^ absence, are reported to have 



ft ^^^^^^^^^ iff bred in Yorkshire in 1901, 



'a^^^^^F ^^ 1902, and 1903, In Lincoln- 



shire ruffs were still breeding 

 in some numbers so late as 

 the year 1869, and they con- 

 tinued to do so in Hickling 

 Broad, Norfolk, in the follow- 

 ing year. From the former 

 area they have apparently 

 long since ceased to exist as 

 a breeding - species, but in 

 Norfolk two nests were found 

 in 1889, and a third in 1907, 

 in which year a second reeve 

 probably also nested in the 

 county. Unfortunately no 

 British-laid eggs are preserved in the British Museum. 



Although disestablished as a regular breeding-species, the ruff is a 

 fairly common visitor to the English fen-lands in autumn, and is also 

 seen more sparingly on the spring migration in April, while a few 

 stray birds now and then a\ail themselves of British hospitalit}' for the 

 winter. Thcj' arc, however, nearly all aliens in place of British-born 

 subjects. On the western side of England, as well as in Scotland, the 

 species is everywhere much more uncommon, as it is also in Ireland, 

 where it is chiefly seen in autumn. From what has been written 

 above, it will be evident that ruffs in the breeding-]>lumage are now 

 but seldom seen in England ; and native specimens in this condition, 

 though ffjrmerly commf)n enough, arc rare in collections at the present 

 day, and consequently of considerable value. Ruffs breed in the 



MOUNTED IN THE ROWLAND WARD STUDIOS 



KL'FF IN SI'KING. 



