274 ALLEN'S NATURALIST'S LIBRARY. 



who all the time appears to be utterly indifferent to the fact 

 that his pirouetting and dancing is done for her edification. 

 In the Zoological Gardens at Rotterdam I have seen a dozen 

 males engaged in showing off, and the antics they play are 

 very amusing. After springing up into the air and turning 

 round several times, they always end by standing stock still, 

 with the bill pointed to the ground, so as to show their neck- 

 shield and hood to the greatest advantage, and in this position 

 they remain for two or three minutes at a time. Occasionally 

 two males will engage in a fight, dancing opposite to each 

 other, but the combats are bloodless and very few feathers fly. 

 The habit of the Ruff in selecting some bare knoll of ground 

 on which to conduct his display has gained for it the ordinary 

 term of " hill "-ing. Mr. A. C. Chapman has given a good 

 account of the habits of the birds as observed by himself and 

 his brother Mr. Abel Chapman in West Jutland. He observes : 

 u The Ruffs, according to their well-known habit, had 

 selected certain * hills ' on which to conduct their amorous 

 conflicts, and it was with the greatest interest that we watched 

 these singular birds, in congregations of from six to eight to 

 twenty or thirty individuals, beating their flanks and otherwise 

 performing the strangest antics. Often a pair of Ruffs would, 

 with ruff and ear-tufts erect, stand facing each other for 

 minutes together, their heads lowered, and their bills nearly 

 touching each other. Then one would spring into the air and 

 make a desperate rush at his retiring adversary, their aptitude 

 for running over the ground at a marvellous speed being most 

 extraordinary. Very frequently no Reeve was present during 

 these exhibitions, and the persistency with which the birds 

 refuse to be driven away from their selected ' hills ' merits 

 attention. Some of these actions of the Ruffs, when at play, 

 reminded me of the gambols of an old Black-Cock on a 

 Northumbrian hill-side in the month of April." 



The food of the Ruff consists, like that of other wading 

 birds, of insects and worms, but they will also eat vegetable 

 substances and rice, as well as the seeds of aquatic plants. 



Nest. Mr. Chapman says : " The Reeves seem to breed 

 quite separately from each other, and invariably choose a tuft 

 of long rough grass for the nest, which is deep and always 

 well concealed. In one instance a Red-shank and a Reeve 



