126 



counties there are at the present time but two or 

 three localities where they remain to rear their 

 young, the swamps and marshes they formerly 

 frequented being so reduced by the improved 

 system of drainage that few spots suitable to their 

 habits are left. 



On their first arrival about the second week in 

 April the long feathers which form the frill round 

 the neck of the male are but half grown. At this 

 time they are seen (or rather used to be) in flocks 

 of from ten or twenty to five or six times that 

 number. On two or three occasions in Norfolk I 

 have been able to crawl within a few yards of one 

 of these large bodies and have had a first-rate 

 opportunity for observing their pugnacious habits. 

 Their battles appear to be of but short duration. 

 A couple of Ruffs square up to one another for a 

 moment or two and then separate to feed or again 

 go through the same performance w r ith their nearest 

 neighbour. Though they occasionally jump and 

 strike after the manner of a game cock I have 

 never noticed any of the combatants to receive the 

 slightest injury. 



A large flock of Ruffs and Reeves is a most 

 curious sight ; the various plumages of the males 

 as they run rapidly here and there giving a kind of 

 piebald appearance to the whole assemblage. 



The specimens in the case male, female and 

 eggs were obtained in the marshes in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Potter Heigham in Norfolk in May, 

 1870. 



See " Kough Notes," Vol. IL, Plates 19 and 21. 



PURPLE SANDPIPER. (SUMMER). 

 Case 171. 



Though the nest of the Purple Sandpiper has 

 never been discovered on our shores, the bird itself 

 may be met with at all seasons. It is, perhaps, 



