700 SCOLOPAC1DJ1. 



in length, and brown ; the irides dusky brown ; the head, 

 the whole of the ruff, or tippet, and the shoulders, of a 

 shining purple black, transversely barred with chestnut ; 

 scapulars, back, lesser wing-coverts, and some of the tertials, 

 pale chestnut, speckled and tipped with black ; greater 

 wing-coverts nearly uniform ash brown ; quill-feathers 

 brownish black, with white shafts ; rump and upper tail- 

 coverts white; tail-feathers ash brown, varied with chestnut 

 and black ; the feathers of the breast, below the ruff, and 

 on the sides, chestnut, tipped with black ; belly, vent, and 

 under tail-coverts, white, with an occasional spot of dark 

 brown ; legs and toes pale yellow brown ; claws black. 



The whole length of the male is about twelve inches 

 and a half. Wing, from the carpal joint to the end of the 

 first quill-feather, which is the longest, six inches and a 

 half. The weight of a Ruff is about six ounces, but a 

 Ruff, when fatted, will weigh ten ounces. 



Montagu says, " The long feathers on the neck and sides 

 of the head, in the male, that constitute the ruff and 

 auricles, are of short duration, for they are scarcely com- 

 pleted in the month of May, and begin to fall the latter 

 end of June. The change of these singular parts is ac- 

 companied by a complete change of plumage ; the stronger 

 colours, such as purple, chestnut, and some others, vanish 

 at the same time, so that in their winter dress they become 

 more generally alike from being less varied in their plum- 

 age ; but we observed that those who had the ruff more or 

 less white, retained that colour about the neck after the 

 autumnal moulting was effected. We noticed that in con- 

 finement their annual changes never varied ; every spring 

 produced the same coloured ruff and other feathers, but the 

 tubercles on the face never appeared. A young male that 

 was taken destitute of a ruff in the breeding- season, whose 

 plumage was mostly cinereous, except about the head and 



