RUFF. 225 



" We had occasion to remark, that although the 

 pugnacious disposition of the Ruff never entirely 

 ceased in confinement, yet it increased with the 

 growth of the long neck feathers in spring, when 

 the least movement of either, from their usual stand, 

 provoked a battle. Their actions, in fighting, were 

 similar to those of a game cock ; the head is low- 

 ered, and the bill is held in a horizontal direction ; 

 the ruff, indeed every feather, more or less distend- 

 ed, the former sweeping the ground as a shield to 

 defend the more tender parts ; the auricles erected, 

 and the tail partly spread, upon the whole, assuming 

 a most ferocious aspect. When either could obtain 

 a firm hold with the bill, a leap succeeded, accom- 

 panied with a stroke of the wing ; but they rarely 

 injured each other." 



When the breeding season has terminated, and 

 the young have obtained their first mature plumage, 

 the males having lost their sexual adornments, a 

 dispersion from the fens takes place. It is after 

 this period, about the end of August or beginning 

 of September, and for the next two months, that 

 they are most frequently met with in Scotland, 

 either as straggling birds passing along the moors, 

 or on the sea shore, where they continue, often inter- 

 mixed with plovers, and are to be met with in small 

 parties. They are not particularly shy, and may be 

 distinguished from among the other birds by which 

 they are generally accompanied, by the length of 

 the legs. We have often shot them on the shores of 

 the Forth, from Holy Tsland northward, and also on 



