100 HABITS OF BIRDS. 



the turf is trodden bare by their obstinate strife. But 

 the place is not as is usually represented in the exact 

 form of a circle, its shape being varied according to 

 the circumstances of the contest. 



Advantage is taken of this peculiar habit of the 

 bird by the fowlers, who look out in the districts 

 frequented by ruffs for their battle fields, as they may 

 be termed ; and when they have made the required 

 discovery, they repair to the spot before day-break, 

 spread their nets, place their decoy-birds, and take 

 their stand at the distance of a hundred and fifty 

 yards or more, as they may judge advisable. The 

 net is what is termed a single clap-net, about seven- 

 teen feet in length and six feet wide, having a pole 

 at each end and uprights fixed in the ground, each 

 furnished with a pulley, by means of which it is easily 

 pulled. It rarely fails to secure all the birds within 

 reach. It is usual, in order to facilitate the pulling, 

 to place the net so as to fold over with the wind; 

 though some fowlers prefer pulling it against the 

 wind, as being less apt to alarm the birds. Ruffs 

 feed chiefly by night, and repair to their battle-fields 

 about the dawn of day, nearly all about the same 

 time. The fowler is accordingly in waiting to 

 make his first pull, and afterwards prepares for the 

 stragglers which traverse the fens without having 

 yet fixed upon any particular hill. 



Some fowlers keep the first ruffs which they catch 

 for decoy-birds ; while others employ stuffed skins 

 of which the imitation is executed in a very rude 

 manner. The stuffed birds are prepared by filling 

 the skin with a wisp of straw tied together, the legs 

 having been previously cut off'; and the skin is 

 afterwards sewed along the breast and belly, but 

 with no great attention to cover in or conceal the 

 straw. Into this straw a stick is thrust to fix it 

 into the ground, and a peg is also driven into the 



