NATURE AND SPORT IN BRITAIN 



chiefly for two reasons — the extraordinary change in the 

 plumage and appearance of the male birds during the 

 courting and breeding season, and the great demand 

 which anciently existed for the male birds at the tables 

 of wealthy gourmets. So high was the estimation in 

 which well-fattened ruffs were held during the days 

 of our ancestors, that not only did the fenmen pursue 

 and snare these birds systematically in their marshy 

 haunts, but a regular business was carried on in one or 

 two Lincolnshire towns in the feeding and fattening of 

 them for table. 



Out of the breeding season ruffs and reeves are much 

 alike in appearance — the upper plumage variegated 

 with brownish black and light rufous, the foreneck 

 and breast pale reddish brown spotted with dark brown, 

 the throat and stomach white. The legs and feet are 

 yellow, the bill brown. The reeve is slightly paler than 

 the ruff on the upper parts, the under parts are greyer, 

 the bill and feet more dusky. During the spring the 

 reeve is somewhat brighter in appearance. In size the 

 ruff stands between the redshank and the greenshank, 

 measuring a trifle under a foot in length. The reeves 

 are perceptibly smaller, and average between nine and 

 ten inches. As the spring comes in the ruff begins to 

 assume a very different appearance. The changes of 

 birds during the breeding season are, in different parts 

 of the world, very wonderful. No transformation is, 

 however, more remarkable than that of the ruff as the 

 time for courting draws near. His face is then covered 

 with singular fleshy tubercles, yellowish or pink in 

 colour. Curious tufts of stiff plumage protrude them- 

 selves near either ear, and a large ruff of elongated 

 feathers stands out over the neck. This ruff, from 

 which the bird receives its name, is distensible at 

 pleasure. The bill, legs, and feet are then yellow or 



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