Heads and Necks 



279 



We can only compare these little Joseph-coated birds 

 with the unnatural sports among domestic poultry and 

 pigeons. 



But whatever their colour, these Fighting Snipe find 

 their ruffs of service in their encounters at the breeding 

 season. Four male birds which I observed in captivity 



Fig. 223.— Ruff with battle-cloak partly moulted. 



were adorned respectively, — plain gray, dotted gray, 

 chestnut barred with black, and a rich golden rufous. 

 Though no females were present, yet their fighting instinct 

 often cropped out and a pair of them w^ould dart and side- 

 step about each other, bills held low and far advanced, 

 ruff spread out from the breast and trailing low, hiding 

 almost the whole body. Now and then one of the fencers 

 would make a vicious dash, sending his bill through the 



