BRITISH BIRDS. 



THE RUFK. 



iiga Pitgnax, Linn. Blcasseau 

 Temm. 



THE male of this curious species is called the 

 Ruff, and the female the Reeve : they differ mate- 

 rially in their appearance: and also, what is 

 remarkable in wild birds, it very rarely happens 

 that two Ruffs are alike in the colours of their 

 plumage.* The singular, wide-spreading, varie- 

 gated tuft of feathers which, in the breeding season, 

 grows out of their necks, is different in all. This 

 tuft or ruff, a portion of which stands up like ears 

 behind each eye, is in some black, in others black 



* Buffon says that Klein compared above a hundred Ruffs to- 

 gether, and found only two that were similar. 



