BIRDS. 357 



ed, they quickly arrive at maturity. They run about after the 

 mother as soon as they leave the egg ; and being covered with 

 a thick down, want very little of that clutching which all birds 

 of the poultry kind, that follow the mother, indispensably require. 

 They come to their adult state long before winter ; and then 

 flock together till the breeding season returns, which for a while 

 dissolves their society. 



As the flesh of almost all these birds is in high estimation, so 

 many methods have been contrived for taking them. That used 

 in taking the rufl^, seems to be most advantageous ; and it may 

 not be amiss to describe it. The Rufl", which is the name of 

 the male, the Reeve that of the female, is taken in nets about 

 forty yards long, and seven or eight feet high. These birds are 

 chiefly found in Lincolnshire and the Isle of Ely, where they 

 come about the latter end of April, and disappear about Mich- 

 aelmas. The male of this bird, which is known from all others 

 of the kind by the great length of the feathers round his neck, is 

 yet so various in his plumage, that it is said, no two rufl^s were 

 ever seen totally of the same colour. The nets in which these 

 are taken, are supported by sticks, at an angle of near forty-five 

 degrees, and placed either on dry ground, or in very shallow 

 water, not remote from reeds : among these the fowler conceals 

 himself, till the birds, enticed by a stale or stuffed bird, come 

 under the nets ; he then, by pulling a string, lets them fall, and 

 they are taken ; as are god-wits, knots, and gray-plover, also, in 

 the same manner. When these birds are brought from under 

 the net, they are not killed immediately, but fattened for the 

 table, with bread and milk, hemp-seed and sometimes boiled 

 wheat ; but if expedition be wanted, sugar is added, which will 

 make them a lump of fat in a fortnight's time. They are kept, 

 as observed before, in a dark room ; and judgment is required in 

 taking the proper time for killing them, when they are at the 

 highest j)itch of fatness : for if that is neglected, the birds are 

 apt to fall away. They are reckoned a very great delicacy •, they 

 sell for two shillings, or half-a-crovvn, a-piece ; and are served 

 up to the table with the train, like woodcocks, where we will 

 leave them. 



