RUFF 



799 



Sandpipers, and outwardly ^ there is nothing, except the unequal 

 size of the two sexes, to rouse suspicion of any abnormal peculiarity. 

 But when spring comes all is changed. In a surprisingly short 

 time the feathers clothing the face of the male are shed, and their 

 place is taken by papillx or small caruncles of bright yellow or pale 

 pink. From each side of his head sprouts a tuft of stiff curled 

 feathers, giving the appearance of long ears, while the feathers of 

 the throat change colour, and beneath and around it sprouts the 

 frill or ruff already mentioned. The feathers which form this 

 remai"kable adornment, almost unicj[ue among birds, are, like those 



KUFF. 



of the " ear-tufts," stiff and incurved at the end, but much longer — • 

 measuring more than two inches. They are closely arrayed, capable 

 of depression or elevation, and form a shield to the front of the 

 breast impenetrable by the bill of a rival. More extraordinary than 

 this, from one point of view, is the great A^ariety of coloration that 

 obtains in these temporary outgrowths. It has often been said 

 that no one ever saw two Ruffs alike. That is perhaps an over- 

 statement ; but, considering the really few colours that the birds 

 exhibit, the variation is something marvellous, so that fifty examples 

 or more may be compared without finding a very close resemblance 



^ Internally there is a great difference in tlie form of tlie posterior margin of 

 the sternum, as long ago remarked by Nitzsch. 



