i:)0 



BRITISH BIRDS. 



[vol. XIV 



black and white, soft buffs and browns, and occasionally pure 

 white, with ear-tufts to match — these colours are harmonious 

 and do not detract from the birds' dignity. But when you 

 get a silver coloured tippet and white ears, then the effect 

 is ludicrous. 



I did not see Ruffs fighting at the beginning of the breeding- 

 season, but certainly throughout the time I watched them 

 their whole attitude struck me as a pose. I never saw any- 

 thing approaching the passionate display and fierce fighting 



A general melee. 

 {Photographed by E. L. Turner.) 



that characterizes the Moorhen [Gallinula ch. chloropus). On 

 no occasion did I see even a feather fly ; and though they 

 definitely made lunges at the warts on each others' faces, I 

 did not see blood drawn. I have never heard the Ruff utter 

 any sound. The noiselessness of the display is one of the 

 reasons why it seems so unreal ; you feel as if you were 

 watching a dumb show. I have been very familiar with the 

 spring and autumn migrations of the Ruff, but I have never, 

 even then, heard them call. 

 The Ruff in the foreground of the photograph on p. 149 was 



