154 BIRDS OF ONTARIO. 



GENUS PAVONCELLA LEACH. 

 PAVONCELLA PUGNAX LINX. 



112. Ruff. (260) 



Above, varied with black, rufous, and gray; the scapulars and tertials 

 exhibiting these colors in oblique bands; beneath, white, varied on the juguluni 

 and throat; primaries, dark brown, with greenish reflection above; the inner 

 webs finely mottled towards the base ; outer three tail feathers plain, the 

 remainder transversely barred ; bill, brown ; sides of rump, white ; legs, yellow. 

 Male in spring dress with the feathers of the neck greatly developed into a ruff; 

 the face covered with reddish papillae. Length, about 10 inches; wing, 6.40; 

 tail, 2.60; bill, 1.25. 



HAB. Northern parts of the Old World, straying occasionally to Eastern 

 North America. 



Nest, made by the females, in a dry tussock of grass in a wet swamp. 



Eggs, four, grayish-green, blotched and spotted with reddish-brown. 



A wanderer from the Old World, which has been occasionally 

 obtained on Long Island, on the coast of New England and in the 

 Middle States. 



The fact of a specimen having been killed on the island near 

 Toronto, in the spring of 1882, gives me the privilege of recording 

 this species as a rare visitor to Ontario. This is farther inland than 

 any of the others occurred, and the probabilities are that it will not 

 often be found so far from the sea. The specimen referred to is 

 apparently a young male in nearly perfect plumage, and is now 

 mounted, and in the possession of Mr. Young, of Toronto. 



Along the eastern shores of England and Scotland, the Ruffs are 

 migrants in spring and fall. In former years a few pairs used to 

 remain and raise their young, but now, owing to the clearing of the 

 land and the birds being more shot at than formerly, nearly all pass 

 on to Scandinavia, where they breed in great numbers. Ruffs are- 

 polygamous, and the males have a curious habit of assembling on 

 bare knolls in the spring to fight for the females. There they erect 

 their long feathers and charge each other with a great deal of fuss 

 and flutter, but their differences are usually settled without blood- 

 shed, and soon afterwards the females retire, select the site, build 

 the nest, and raise their brood without receiving any further atten- 

 tion from the other sex. 



In autumn they pass south to the Mediterranean, thence down 

 both coasts of Africa as far as Cape Colony. 



