RUFF. 431 



The late Eev. R. Lubbock, in his 'Fauna of Norfolk/ 

 has also given an interesting account of the behaviour of the 

 Ruffs in spring, when their ' hill ' being over, they disperse 

 themselves about the marsh in search of females. A Reeve 

 circling round her nest will then put in motion three or four 

 Rufls. The males seem to be much inconvenienced by the 

 collar of long feathers which obstructs their flight, rendering 

 it slow and laboured, but, relieved of this by the autumn 

 moult, their flight becomes powerful and glancing like that 

 of the female. 



In Norfolk it is possible that a pair or two may still nest, 

 in spite of the incentives held forth by collectors of British- 

 taken eggs ; and in Lincolnshire, as the Editor is informed 

 by Mr. Cordeaux, a nest containing two eggs was taken, and 

 the female shot in flagrant contravention of the law in 

 1882, in a locality where the species had been in the habit 

 of breeding. In Yorkshire it no longer breeds ; and since 

 the drainage of Prestwick Car, it has scarcely been known to 

 nest in Northumberland. On the west coast of England it 

 occurs on migration; and Mr. Adamson once obtained a nest 

 at Brough Marsh, in the Solway. It visits the eastern side 

 of Scotland, from Berwick to the Orkneys and Shetlands, but 

 is very rare on the west ; and in Ireland its arrivals have 

 principally been noticed on the east coast, seldom in the 

 south : mostly in autumn. 



The extreme north-western range of the Ruff appears to 

 be Iceland, where it has occurred as a straggler. It breeds 

 in suitable localities in Scandinavia, Russia, Northern and 

 Central Poland, and along the coasts of North Germany, 

 Holland, Belgium, and the north of France. To the rest of 

 Europe it is principally known on its double migrations, and 

 its winter-quarters commence on the southern side of the 

 Mediterranean. On the flooded fields of Egypt it is found 

 from August to May ; and through Nubia, and Abyssinia, 

 where it occurs at an elevation of 10,000 feet, its course can 

 be traced to Natal. On the west side of Africa, touching at 

 Madeira, it ranges by Senegambia, Angola, and Damara 

 Land, to Cape Colony. Andersson believed that in the Lake 



