114 BRITISH BIRDS. 



they apparently begin to breed soon after their arrival. Irby says that 

 they pass the Straits of Gibraltar from January to the end of May, the 

 later flocks being doubtless those breeding in the high north. On the 

 Arctic circle, in the valley of the Petchora, Harvie-Brown and I saw the 

 first Ruff on the 30th of May, and took the first nest on the 12th of June. 

 In the same latitude, in the valley of the Yenesay, the Ruff arrived on the 

 9th of June, and eggs were taken four degrees further north on the 1st of 

 July. 



There are two points of special interest attaching to the history of the 

 Ruff, which are probably intimately connected with each other. One of 

 these is the extraordinary variety of the plumage of the males in the 

 breeding-season, and the other is the fact that the Ruff is polygamous. 

 It is said that the females largely outnumber the males. Naumann 

 estimates the proportion at three to one, and this discrepancy is confirmed 

 by African collectors. The males contend in single combat for the right 

 of being " cock of the walk ; " and for this purpose battlefields are chosen, 

 like the " laking-places " of the Capercaillie and the Blackcock. These 

 are sometimes on a slight elevation, but usually are nothing more than a 

 spot of open ground in the marsh where a patch of level short grass is to be 

 found, four or five feet across, and so situated that it may be exposed to 

 the view of the admiring females. The same piece of ground is chosen 

 year after year, and Naumann mentions an instance of one which had 

 been thus used for half a century. Frequently two or three duels are 

 going on at once on the ground, but they seldom last long. After what 

 looks like furious sparring, the weaker cock retires from the ' ' hill," seldom 

 any worse for the fray, and the conqueror awaits another foe. These cock- 

 fights are not commenced until the ruff or collar is fully grown, which is 

 seldom before the middle of May, and are discontinued as soon as the 

 feathers on the neck begin to fall out, which happens about six weeks 

 later. Soon after sunrise is the best time to observe them, but I have 

 watched them in Russia and in Holland as late as eleven in the forenoon. 

 The excitement of the birds is intense; they stoop with their heads low 

 and their ruffs expanded, and fly at each other like game-cocks, but, unlike 

 those birds, they fight with the bill and not with the foot. The warts on 

 the side of the face of the Ruff only remain during the spring, and doubt- 

 less serve as a protection against the sword-thrusts of their adversaries. 



Except during the month or so when the males " hill," the Ruff is not 

 very gregarious at its breeding-grounds ; solitary birds are often seen, but 

 three or four together is not unusual. No bird is more conspicuous than 

 the Ruff during the breeding-season. It frequents for the most part the 

 swampy portion of the moors, where its divers gay colours contrast strongly 

 with the light green of the wet grass, and where there is little or no cover. 

 Even in places where the moors are close to the sea, it does not feed on 



