232 ORALLY. 



plover to the avocet, form one of the doubles. The heron leads 

 our thoughts to the storks and cranes, some of which sum- 

 mer in the one hemisphere and winter in the other ; the 

 bittern leads us almost immediately to the grous ; for in 

 many places they answer to each others' cries ; and in the 

 locality to which I alluded in the notice of the bittern, as 

 being familiar to my own observation, the grous quitted the 

 dry heather at the same time that the bittern quitted the 

 mire. If I mistake not, their cries ceased in the very sane 

 season.* 



This is a mere hint, which I have not space or capacity 

 to work out ; and the requisite data are not before me. An 

 arrangement would require all the localities of the world, in 

 all their varieties, and all their birds ; and Britain is only 

 one insulated little spot, comparatively uniform in its whole 

 climate, and artificial from culture in great part of its 

 surface. Besides, it is " an inn for the wayfaring birds ;" 

 and some of our guests are so familiar, that it is not easy 

 to distinguish between them and members of the family. 

 To me, these difficulties feel insurmountable ; and therefore 

 I must enumerate the remaining genera of this very curious 

 but perplexing order, without the slightest pretension to 

 system. 



THE RUFF (Machete* pugnax) . 



The ruff, although a marsh bird, is one in which the galli- 

 naceous character is very conspicuous. The males are poly- 

 gamous, or at all events pugnacious, and fight as gallantly 

 for their dames as ever knight-errant did, in those ages of 



* Why the bittern should "load ns almost immediately to the irrons," 

 even in thought, AVO cannot tell. There 1 is no alHnity in any one respect 

 between them : and their food, habits, manners, and locality, are utterly 

 dissimilar. M. 



