Ruff 



3 6 7 



hearing distance. The eggs, usually four in number, are deep drab, thickly 

 spotted with chocolate. 



Ruff. Perhaps the most remarkable member of this entire group is the 

 Ruff (Pavoncdla pugnax) of temperate Europe and Asia, whence it wanders 

 in winter to Africa, the Indian peninsula, and the Malay Archipelago, very fre- 

 quently reaching eastern North America. It is related to, and in several respects 

 suggests, our Bartramian Sandpiper, or Upland Plover, but is distinguished at 

 once by the fact that the male assumes during the breeding season a peculiar 

 " cape " or shield-like ruff of feathers on the neck and a tuft of long feathers 

 on the sides of the head, and the face is covered with reddish or yellowish car- 

 uncles. While this ruff is similar in shape in all mature birds, its color varies 

 greatly, hardly two being exactly alike in this respect. The extremes of color 

 are pure white and intense purple-black, between which are " buffs, reds, chest- 

 nuts, browns of many shades, and mottled black or brown and white, often 

 beautifully streaked, or barred, or spot- 

 ted, or delicately vermiculated." HUD- 

 SON. The general plumage at this time 

 is mottled above with black, buff, and 

 gray, with a great degree of individual 

 variation. The males are about twelve 

 inches long, while the females, or Reeves, 

 as they are called, are two inches shorter 

 and lack the cape or ruff and resemble 

 in coloration the immature males and 

 the males in winter plumage, being barred 

 with blackish, buff, white, and rusty, 

 the lower parts being mostly immaculate 

 white. In addition to the remarkable 

 feather ornaments the males, unlike 

 any other members of the group, are 



polygamous, being greatly exceeded in numbers by the females, for whose favors 

 they engage in fierce battles, resorting for the purpose to especially selected 

 "hills." In these battles, which usually take place early in the morning, the 

 birds stand facing each other with ruffs erected and thrust at each other with 

 their long, sharp bills; usually, however, though appearing very fierce, little 

 damage is done in the duels. These birds were formerly very abundant in the 

 British Islands, but immense numbers were netted for market during the breed- 

 ing season and it has now become solely a bird of passage there, resorting to 

 the northern lands for breeding purposes. 



Upland Plover. The Bartramian Sandpiper, or Upland Plover (Bartramia 

 longicauda), above alluded to, is one of the most characteristic members of the 

 order in eastern and central North America east of the Great Basin, though 

 extending as far north as the Yukon Valley and Nova Scotia. It is about twelve 

 inches long, light brownish above, barred and spotted with blackish, blackish 

 on the crown, and buffy streaked with dusky on the head and neck, while the 



FIG. 124. Ruff, Pavoncella pugnax. 



