RUFFS AND REEVES 



orange colour. The colour of the plumage, and 

 especially of the ear tufts and ruff, vary greatly, so that 

 two birds are seldom found alike. The ruff is usually 

 barred black, but in some individuals it is marked with 

 white, brown, or grey. Metallic hues are often notice- 

 able. Purplish black is more usually the colour of the 

 ear tufts, while the general colour of the neck ruff is 

 chestnut. 



Young birds of the year, it is to be noted, do not 

 display the ruff and other sexual changes of plumage 

 and appearance. The assumption of this strange and 

 beautiful breeding plumage is completed in May, and 

 begins to vanish again towards the end of June. The 

 deeper colours, such as purple and chestnut, disappear 

 together, and by September the change is complete and 

 the ordinary plumage regained. The female makes no 

 pretence to anything in the shape of the ruff or ear tufts. 

 During the courting season the ruffs, resplendent in their 

 gay plumage, meet together on pieces of rising ground 

 among the fens and marshes, and there battle together 

 fiercely for the possession of the reeves. This practice 

 was termed by the fenmen '' hilling," and the turf and 

 herbage were usually to be found beaten down by the 

 movement of these birds during these contests. Be- 

 sides these battles royal, the ruffs are in the habit of 

 displaying their plumage, distending their ruffs, and 

 performing various curious antics for the benefit of the 

 admiring reeves, very much as does the peacock of 

 Europe and Asia and the paauw or great bustard of 

 South Africa. The eggs are usually laid in a tussock 

 of grass ; they are whitish green in colour, marked 

 with reddish brown blotches, and are four in number. 



The range of these birds is very large, as is so often 

 the case with many of the wading birds. The bulk of 

 the species breed mainly in Northern Europe and 



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