RUFF. 695 



Marquis of Townsend, when that nobleman was Lord 

 Lieutenant of Ireland,* to take some Ruffs to that country, 

 and actually set off with twenty-seven dozen from Lincoln- 

 shire, left seven dozen at the Duke of Devonshire's at 

 Chatsworth, continued his route across the kingdom to 

 Holyhead, and delivered seventeen dozen alive in Dublin, 

 having lost only three dozen in so long a journey, confined 

 and greatly crowded as they were in baskets, which were 

 carried upon two horses. During our stay at Spalding we 

 were shown into a room where there were about seven 

 dozen males and a dozen females, and of the former there 

 were not two alike. Our intrusion to choose some birds 

 drove them from their stands, and, compelling some to tres- 

 pass upon the premises of others, produced many battles. 

 It is a remarkable character of these birds that they feed 

 most greedily the moment they are taken ; a basin of bread 

 and milk, or boiled wheat, placed before them is instantly 

 contended for, and so pugnacious is their disposition, that 

 they would starve in the midst of plenty, if several dishes 

 of food were not placed amongst them, at a distance from 

 each other. Their actions in fighting are very similar to 

 those of a game cock : the head is lowered and the beak 

 held in a horizontal direction ; the ruff, and 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 by a stroke of the wing ; but they rarely 

 injured each other. 



" Few Ruffs, comparatively speaking, are taken in the 

 spring, as the old birds frequently pine, and will not readily 

 fatten. The principal time is in September, when the 

 * Appointed in October, 1767. 



