24 Lost British Birds. 



know of no other county in which this Harrier has recently 

 nested. . . Statements respecting its breeding in Aberdeen- 

 shire, Banffshire, etc., are simply incredible. Ireland offers 

 many more congenial situations, and the bird was formerly 

 common .... but since 1840, the keepers have nearly 

 succeeded in exterminating it by the use of poison." 



Few years have elapsed since this was written, and the 

 keepers have now wholly succeeded ; guns, traps, and poison 

 have given this graceful and interesting hawk his quietus. 



XII. KUFF AND KEEVE Machetes pugnax. The ruff 

 with his developed ear-tufts and neck frill, looking like an 

 immense Elizabethan collar, or a shield with the quaint 

 head for a centre, presents a very singular appearance, as 

 the accompanying drawing will serve to show. These were 

 its nuptial ornaments, assumed in May and shed in June or 

 July. To make themselves still more conspicuous during 

 the season of courtship, the birds have the curious custom 

 of uniting in what are called " Hills of Kuffs." The " hill " 

 is a small hillock on a marshy flat, which the birds select as 

 a meeting place ; every morning this spot is resorted to by a 

 number of individuals, who come together to display their 

 feather ornaments and to fight with each other, probably for 

 possession of the females. In the districts frequented by the 

 birds, it was the custom of the fowlers to find the "hills "and 

 set small horse-hair snares on them to capture the birds ; and 

 to the annual persecution of the birds in this way during the 

 breeding season, we must attribute the extermination of the 

 ruff and reeve in England. Down to 1834, the species was 

 described as " common " in Norfolk, especially at Eeedham 

 and Acle. In north Lincolnshire, eggs were taken in 1866, 

 and one nest with two eggs as recently as 1882. " This last 

 probably marks the extinction of the species in this country," 

 says Mr. Cordeaux. Lubbock, in his Fauna of Norfolk, 

 attributes the great decrease in its numbers of late years to 

 the beauty of the bird having caused it to be more than ever 

 sought after. A ruff "with his show on," which is the 



