338 THE COMPLETE WILDFOWLER 



bird throughout the year on all our coasts, its food consisting 

 principally of mussels and limpets, which its powerful wedge- 

 shaped bill enables it to detach from the rocks. It also feeds 

 on Crustacea and marine insects. Early in the spring large 

 flocks begin to break up into pairs. 



The nest is generally made on the shingle or the top of a 

 low rock just above high-water mark, but where the rocks are 

 steep and precipitous it is placed on the top of the cliff, some 

 distance above the sea-level. In Scotland they sometimes 

 nest inland along the river banks. 



The head and neck, scapulars and mantle, lesser wing- 

 coverts and tip of the tail are brilliant black, the rest of the 

 plumage white. Bill orange, getting richer in colour towards 

 base ; legs whitish pink. The sexes are alike, and in winter 

 there is a white crescent round the throat, and the bill is horn- 

 coloured at the tip. The bill is continually growing and so 

 counteracting the wear and tear to which it is subjected. 

 Length about i6 in. ; wing 9*75 in. 



RUFF 



Machetes pugnax (Macgill) 

 The Ruff at one time bred with us, but is now chiefly a 

 spring and autumn visitor. In summer the males don an 

 ornamental ruff around the neck. In coloration these "Ruffs" 

 vary considerably, there being white, brown, cinnamon, and 

 black examples commonly met with. The female, known as 

 the Reeve, is smaller than the male, and has not a ruff at any 

 time. In their breeding habits they are said to be polygamous. 

 The young birds of the year occur regularly with us in early 

 autumn, and are in the majority males. Reeves are about the 

 size of a Redshank, but are rufous-brown above, and white 

 tinged faintly with cinnamon below. Young Ruffs are like the 

 Reeves, but are larger. Length : Reeves, 10*5 in. ; Ruffs, 

 11-75 in. 



