698 SCOLOPACID^E. 



the female and her brood till the return of spring. Mon- 

 tagu took the trouble of transporting several of these birds, 

 both males and females, with him from Lincolnshire into 

 Devonshire ; some of them lived three years in captivity, 

 and one of them four years : the changes they underwent 

 will be noticed under the description of plumage. Montagu 

 says, that " in confinement the males paid no attention to 

 the Reeves, except to drive them from their food ; they 

 never attempted to dispute with any other species, but 

 would feed out of the same dish with Land Rails, and 

 other birds confined with them, in perfect amity." In a 

 wild state they feed upon insects and worms. 



In Ireland, as recorded by Mr. Thompson, the Ruff 

 appears occasionally in spring and autumn. A few are 

 observed in various parts of England, generally in autumn. 

 A considerable flight, supposed to be young birds, were 

 seen near Godalming in Surrey, on the 20th of August, 

 1836. The Rev. Richard Lubbock sent me word that in 

 Norfolk the Ruff is still found in small numbers, in diffe- 

 rent parts of the fens of that county, but so much decreas- 

 ed, that the fen-men find setting snares for them no longer 

 answers. He has never known them taken with a net in 

 Norfolk, but always by the gun, or horse-hair nooses dis- 

 posed around the hill. An old snarer told him he had 

 taken six couple in a morning off one hill. A man has 

 been known to make five or six pounds by these birds, 

 sold at two shillings each, in one season. A small flock 

 annually frequents Prestwick Car, near Newcastle-upon- 

 Tyne, in autumn. Mr. Heysham has recorded the appear- 

 ance of young birds in the neighbourhood of Carlisle, in 

 the autumns of 1830 and 1832. 



Mr. Dann's notes on the Ruff in Scandinavia are as fol- 

 low : " This bird appears in great numbers on the coast of 

 Scona at the end of April or the beginning of May, but is 



