RUFFS AND REEVES. 229 



southern latitudes, except in very severe weather, and 

 when there is much ice collected in the harbours. 



Of ruffs and reeves, the former are the male birds, 

 and the reeves the females. The ruffs, according to 

 Buffon, are very pugnacious. He remarks that they not 

 only contend with each other in single rencontres, but 

 sometimes advance in order of battle, and these hostile 

 armies are composed entirely of males, which in this, as 

 in a variety of species of birds, are much more nume- 

 rous than females. These battles are fought with great 

 obstinacy, which nature seems to countenance, by the 

 great disproportion between the ruffs and reeves. 

 The ruffs assume such variety of plumage that it is 

 scarcely possible to see two alike, but the great length 

 of feathers, from which they take their name, at once 

 distinguish them from all other birds. The feathers 

 which compose this peculiarity swell out in a remarkable 

 manner, not unlike the ruff worn by our ancestors ; a 

 portion of these feathers stand over each eye, imitating 

 ears ; and this curious bunch of feathers grows from the 

 back of the neck, spreading wide on both sides. This 

 tuft, and the feathers of the ruff, are frequently of 

 different colours in the same bird. The ruff is of as 

 many and as various dyes as there are birds that wear it. 

 Latham observes that of whatever hue the ruff may be 

 the breast differs very little, and the transverse markings 

 on the upper part of the plumage somewhat correspond, 

 the ground tint being mostly brown. The tufts in the 

 males is not a warlike ornament only, but is a sort of 

 defensive armour, which wards off the blows by the 

 length, and stiffness, and closeness of the feathers ; they 

 bristle in a threatening manner when the bird makes an 

 attack, and the colours form the chief distinction between 

 Q 3 



