266 BIRDS OF NORFOLK. 



the North river, near Yarmouth, on the 2nd of October, 

 1863, is the latest as to date that I have known in 

 autumn, and in no single instance am I aware of this 

 species having been observed during the winter months.* 

 Mr. Harting's specimen, which is particularly referred 

 to in his " Birds of Middlesex," was feeding alone at 

 the time, and allowed of so near an approach before it 

 rose that he could observe its actions minutely. In 

 walking, he tells me, it picked its way daintily along 

 the "rand," the body carried horizontally, and with 

 trailed wings, the head nodding at every step. When 

 flushed it uttered no cry, but flew lazily away, and 

 pitched again within forty yards, when he followed 

 it up and secured it. It was in fine plumage and very 

 fat, the stomach filled with the remains of small beetles 

 mixed with minute particles of grit. 



With the exception of Colonel Montagu's account 

 of this species, so extensively quoted by Yarrell, Mr. 

 Lubbock's observations on the habits of the ruif and 

 reeve are both the fullest and the most trustworthy with 

 which I am acquainted, and these having a peculiar 

 local interest, whilst the '^ Fauna of Norfolk" is out of 

 print, I feel no hesitation in giving copious extracts 

 therefrom. 



The marked decrease in their numbers of late 

 years he attributes to " the beauty of the bird having 

 caused it to be more than ever sought after. A 

 ruff ^with his show on,' which is the provincial 

 phrase by which the fen-men here designate one of 

 these birds in the breeding plumage, is exactly the 

 creature which all bird-preservers eagerly snap up;" 



* In Ireland where, according to Thompson (" Birds of Ireland," 

 vol. ii., p. 230), this species is not unfrequent in autumn but rare 

 in spring, and is not known to have been a resident at any time, 

 BBveral specimens have been killed in October, and even as late 

 as the 29th of November. 



