TJie Ruff and Reeve. 363 



THE BUFF AND KEEVE. (Machetes pugnax.} \ 



IT is curious to see, in our observation of natural objects, 

 how the creative power of Providence seems to have 

 tried all forms and shapes in the composition of species, 

 In the cock bird of this species a circle or collar of long 

 feathers, somewhat resembling a ruff, encompasses the 

 neck under the head, whence the bird has received the 

 name of Kuff. It is about a foot in length, with a bill 

 about an inch long. There is a wonderful and almost 

 infinite variety in the colours of the feathers of the males ; 

 so that in spring there cari scarcely be found two exactly 

 alike ; but after moulting they become all alike again. 



The males are sometimes called Fighters, on account 

 of their quarrelsome disposition. It is a bird of passage, 

 and arrives in the fens of Lincolnshire, and other similar 

 places, in the spring. Mr. Pennant tells us, that in the 

 course of a single morning more than six dozen have 

 been caught in one net, and that a fowler has been 

 known to catch between forty and fifty dozen in a 

 season. 



