IN DUTCH WATER MEADOWS 205 



not all, the rest of their class do not pair, but are, like 

 Pheasants and Barndoor Fowls, polygamous. 



But, perhaps because questions of precedence had 

 already been settled, or perhaps because it was not 

 until towards the afternoon of a hot day that we found 

 them in any numbers, we saw nothing ourselves to 

 justify their distinctive epithet, Pugnax. 



Every now and then one of the party rose, bowed, 

 and pointed his beak at a neighbour, who acknow- 

 ledged the compliment in the same manner. The two, 

 to borrow a phrase from Punch, ' flashed their linen,' 

 ruffling their frills to make them show to the greatest 

 advantage, bowed a second time, and settled quietly 

 down again. There was occasionally a little momen- 

 tary excitement, as another of the privileged circle 

 dropped in, looking as he flew with ruff closed like a 

 little Pouter Pigeon, but nothing like quarrelling. 

 Everything was done with quiet decorum, and the 

 general effect was more that of a select club window 

 in St. James's Street on a June afternoon than of a 

 duelling-ground. 



No European bird, probably, varies in colour to 

 anything like the same extent as the Ruff. Of the 

 many we saw no two were nearly alike in plumage. 

 One that we watched from close by with a glass was 

 noted as having a chestnut ruff with a black face. 

 Another had an almost pure white ruff and chestnut 

 back. A third had a white ruff, broadly tipped with 

 black, and a back of the sandy dun of a Little Ringed 

 Plover. A fourth had a ruff of black and white in 



