THE RUFF AND REEVE. 249 



small distance from each other, and contend for tlie 

 females. This hill, or place of resort for love and 

 battle, is sought for by the fowler, "who, from habit, 

 discovers it by the birds having trodden the turf 

 somewhat bare ; tliough not in a circle, as usually 

 described." 



We had occasion to remark, that although the 

 pugnacious disposition of the ruff never ceased in 

 confinement, it increased with the growth of the 

 long feathers of the neck in spring, when the least 

 movement of either from their usual stand, provoked 

 a battle. Their actions in fighting are similar to 

 those of the game-cock, — the head is lowered, and the 

 bill is held in a horizontal direction ; the niff, indeed 

 every feather, more or less distended; the former 

 sweeping the ground as a shield, to defend the more 

 tender parts, the auricles erected, and the tail partly 

 spread ; upon the whole, assuming a most ferocious 

 aspect. When either could obtain a firm hold with 

 the bill, a leap succeeded, accompanied with a stroke 

 of the wdng, but they rarely injured each other. 



Where gregariously assembled among other spe- 

 cies, the ruff is known by the greater length of the 

 legs. The breeding plumage is scarcely ever similar 

 in any two of these birds. Eeddish oranges and 

 yellow whites, clove brown and black, deeply shaded 

 in glossy purple, are the chief tintings of their beau- 

 tiful and varying plumage ; for the rest, too well 

 knoTMi by the fen sportsman to be specifically de- 

 scribed. They are from nine to eleven inches high 



