R UFF— SANDPIPER 



301 



is speedy and strong on the wing. He is seen at his best in the pairing-season, 

 when he is " sho wing-oft'" in his characteristic spring manoeuvres, or "hilling," as it 

 is called from the performance always taking place on a slight elevation. From 

 three to eight males then appear at certain intervals on some spot well covered with 

 short grass, and easily recognisable by the herbage about being trodden down and 

 soiled with mud. This is never very far from the pairing-place, and forms more 

 or less of a ring, about 4 feet in diameter. Each cock takes up his station 

 near this, and looks at the others in an aggressive manner until one accepts the 

 challenge, and the duel begins. With quivering bodies, nodding heads, and 

 drooping breasts, the combatants rush upon each other, to stab with their beaks, 

 which, not being very hard, fail to penetrate the bristly shield-like collar, so that 

 no serious damage is done. The round does not last very long, and the birds part 

 to return to their original positions to recover a little and start afresh. Meanwhile 



RUFF IN BREEDING PLUMAGE. 



another challenge has been accepted and another fight commences, and then 

 another, and when the ring is full of fighting birds the spectacle is very in- 

 teresting until it ends by the performers becoming tired out. This hilling begins 

 soon after the arrival of the birds at their breeding-places about the beginning 

 of May, in June it is at its height, and in July is at an end. In winter the 

 males lose their collars, which grow again next spring, their place being taken by 

 warty growths. Worms and insects and their larvje form the chief food of this 

 bird, which, however, will feed on rice and other seeds, and is fattened for market 

 on boiled wheat and bread-and-milk. 

 sandpiper, or The sandpiper, or summer snipe (Totanus hypoleucus), may be 



summer snipe, looked for wherever rivers with wide, shallow beds and sand}' shores 

 run through meadows and bushes, either in flat or hilly country. It keeps 

 within a short radius of the beach, perching on stones, fences, or bushes ; and, 

 living alone or in small parties, keeps well aloof from other birds of the shore, 



