RUFF. 579 



underwent ■will be noticed under the descrii^tion of plumage. 

 Montagu says, that " in confinement the males paid no at- 

 tention to the Reeves, except to drive them from their food ; 

 they never attempted to dispute with any other species, but 

 would feed out of the same dish with Land Rails, and other 

 birds confined with them, in perfect amity." In a wild state 

 they feed upon insects and worms. 



In Ireland, as recorded by Mr. Thompson, the Ruff ap- 

 pears occasionally in spring and autumn. A few are ob- 

 served in various parts of England, generally in autumn. A 

 considerable flight, supposed to be young birds, were seen 

 near Godalming in Surrey, on the 20th of August, 1836. 

 The Rev. Richard Lubbock sends me word that in Norfolk 

 the Ruff is still found in small numbers, in different parts 

 of the fens of that county, but so much decreased, that the 

 fenmen find setting snares for them no longer answers. He 

 has never known them taken with a net in Norfolk, but 

 always by the gun, or horsehair nooses disposed upon the 

 hill. An old snarer told him he had taken six couple in 

 a morning off one hill. A man has been known to make 

 five or six pounds by these birds, sold at two shillings each, 

 in one season. A small flock annually frequents Prestwick 

 Car, near Newcastle-upon-Tyne, in autumn. Mr. Heysham 

 has recorded the appearance of young birds in the neighbour- 

 hood of Carlisle, in the autumn of 1830, and '32. 



Mr. Dann's notes on the Ruff in Scandinavia are as fol- 

 low : " This bird appears in great numbers on the coast of 

 Scona at the end of April or the beginning of May, but is 

 not known to breed in the southern parts of Scandinavia, al- 

 though it breeds abundantly in Denmark, from whence I 

 have had the eggs. It arrives in Lapland the last week in 

 May, and frequents, on its first coming, the shores of the 

 lakes and rivers ; as soon, however, as the swamps are thaw- 

 ed, and the grass begins to spring up, which is simultaneous 



2 p 2 



