2 SCOLOPACID.E. 



Ceylon and another on the north island of Japan, whilst others have been obtained 

 in the United States of America (Maine, Massachusetts, New York, and Ohio) and 

 in Spanish Guiana. Pallas says that it was not rare in Kamtschatka, but 

 subsequent travellers have failed to meet with it. The Euff has no near ally. 



" The RufF reaches its breeding-grounds somewhat late in spring. Naumann 

 says that in Germany the males arrive during the first half of May, and the females 

 during the second half of that month ; that the males leave in August, but the 

 females and young not until September. At Valconswaard I saw the first flock of 

 males on the loth of May ; but we took three nests on the 20th and 21st, one of 

 them a full clutch, so that they apparently begin to breed soon after their arrival. 

 Irby says that they pass the Straits of Gibraltar from January to the end of May, 

 the later flocks being doubtless those breeding in the high north. On the Arctic 

 Circle, in the valley of the Petchora, Harvie-Brown and I saw the first Ruff on the 

 30th of May, and took the first nest on the 12th of June. In the same latitude, 

 in the vaUey of the Yenesay, the Ruff arrived on the 9th of June, and eggs were 

 taken four degrees further north on the 1st of July. 



" There are two points of special interest attaching to the history of the Ruff, 



which are probably intimately connected with each other. One of these is the 



extraordinary variety of the plumage of the males in the breeding-season, and the 



other is the fact that the Ruff is polygamous. It is said that the females largely 



outnumber the males. Naumann estimates the proportion at three to one, and 



this discrepancy is confirmed by AAican collectors. The males contend in single 



combat for the right of being ' cock of the walk '; and for this purpose battlefields 



are chosen, like the ' laking-places ' of the Capercaillie and the Blackcock. These 



are sometimes on a slight elevation, but usually are nothing more than a spot of 



open ground in the marsh where a patch of level short grass is to be found, four 



or five feet across, and so situated that it may be exposed to the view of the 



admiring females. The same piece of ground is chosen year after year, and 



Naumann mentions an instance of one which had been thus used for half a 



century. Frequently two or three duels are going on at once on the ground, but 



they seldom last long. After what looks like furious sparring, the weaker cock 



retires from the ' hill,' seldom any worse for the fray, and the conqueror awaits 



another foe. These cock-fights are not commenced until the ruff or collar is fully 



grown, which is seldom before the middle of May, and are discontinued as soon 



as the feathers on the neck begin to fall out, which happens about six weeks 



later. Soon after sunrise is the best time to observe them, but I have watched 



them in Russia and in Holland as late as eleven in the forenoon. The excitement 



of the bu'ds is intense ; they stoop with their heads low and their ruffs expanded. 



