FEN-BIRD SHOOTING. 107 



■oiindisli shaped glossy black spots, on a rusty-colotured grornid. 

 Che quills are dusky; the belly, vent, and tail coverts aie wlnte. 

 Che tail is brown, and the four middle feathers in it are barred 

 nth black. The legs are of a yellowish hue. The male does not 

 Lcquire the ornament of his neck till the second season, and before 

 hat time is not easily distniguished from the female, except by 

 )eing larger. After the moulting, at the end of June, he loses his 

 •uff and the red tubercles on the face- and from that tmie until 

 he spring of the year, he again, in the plumage, looks hke his 

 nate This singular tuft in the male bird, it has been remarked, is 

 lot a warlike ornament, but only a Idnd of defensive armour, 

 itted, by the length, stiffness, and closeness of the feathers, to 

 yard off the blows of an assailant. 



The reeve, or female, is smaller than the ruff, and isentu'ely 

 lestitute of the collar of feathers around the neck. She is brov/n 

 n the upper parts, and the middle of each feather is dusky, and 

 ;he larger quills are of the same hue. The secondaries are ot 

 nifous brown, and the legs are yeUowish. She lays four eggs m 

 ;he grass, the ground-colour of which is white, with Kon-coioured 

 spots There is a kuid of understood i-ule among sportsmen not 

 :o take the reeves, for two reasons : first, because they are smaUer ; 

 md, secondly, by sparing them the breed is increased. Whenthe 

 reeves arrive, the male bird or ruff takes to what is caUed hllingj 

 that is, he chooses a pecuhar spot for love adventures, which is 

 "•enerally some elevated locahty. Each ruff is said to take posses- 

 sion of some smaU moimd, or part of a hiH which he wears quite 

 bare by killinc/, or wearing it away with his teet. Mr, pamel teMs 

 as that " When a reeve alights, the ruffs unmediately tail to 

 fio-hting; they use the same action in fightmg as a game-cock- 

 place their biUs to the ground, and spread then; ruffs. Wlien a 

 Fowler discovers one of these hilis, he places his net oyer-mght 

 which is of the same kind as those called clop, or day-nets, only it 

 is generally single, and is about fourteen yards long' and tour 

 broad. At daybreak he resorts to his stand, at the distance of 

 one, two, three, or four himdred yards from the nets-the Mer the 

 season the shyer the birds, and he must keep the further oft. Me 

 then makes his pull, taking such birds as are withm reach • alter 

 that he places his stuffed bnds, or stales, to entice those that are 

 continualiy traversing the fen. A fowler has been known to catch 

 fortv-four birds at the first haul, and the whole taken m the 

 morning were sLx dozen. When the stales are set, seldom more 

 than two or three are taken at a time. .^ experienced towler mU 

 take forty or fifty dozen in a season; they are fattened lor the 

 table with bread and milk, hempseed, and sometimes boiled wheat; 

 but if expedition is required sugar is added which m a lortmght 

 makes them a lump of fat ; they then sell ior half-a-crowii each. 

 Great nicety is requhed to kill them at the highest pitch of latness: 

 if that is passed over, the bii-ds are apt to fall away.. The method 

 of killing them is by cutting off the head with a pair of scissors ; 



