THE RUFF 307 



contests which daily took place during the pair- 

 ing season that the turf was worn bare on their 

 fighting-grounds. The peculiar collar worn by 

 the male bird is quite sufficient for its identifica- 

 tion without any further reference to its plumage. 

 This ruff, which extends round the neck of the 

 cock, is of every shade of purple, black, chest- 

 nut, gray, and white, and the same beauty of 

 colouring extends also along the back. The 

 female, though very handsome, is without the 

 ruff, and of more sombre attire. The male is 

 larger than the female, being twelve and a half 

 inches in length, as compared with ten and a half. 

 After moulting the male bird sheds the ruff, and 

 both birds are very similar in plumage viz., buff- 

 coloured, marked with dark brown above, and 

 grayish-white in the under parts. They frequent 

 marshy and swampy localities. The reclamation 

 of land by drainage is said to have had much to 

 do with the decrease in the numbers of this bird. 

 Such may be the case ; I fear, however, that the 

 demands of the poulterers have been the cause of 

 its present rarity. 



The summer-snipe, or common sandpiper, is 

 a well-known frequenter of most of our streams, 

 and although not a resident, there are but few 

 weeks from early spring-time till late autumn in 

 which it may not be seen winging its way from 

 one bend of the river to another, its white breast 

 gleaming in the sunlight as it turns in its flight. 

 Now and again it will stop to rest on some minia- 



