RUFF. 651 



bable that the few which are left after the spring fowling, 

 like other polygamous birds, keep in parties separate from 

 the female and her brood till the return of spring." Montagu 

 took the trouble of transporting several of these birds, both 

 males and females, with him from Lincolnshire into Devon- 

 shire, some of them lived three years in captivity, and one 

 of them four years : the changes they underwent will be 

 noticed under the description of plumage. Montagu says, 

 that " in confinement the males paid no attention to the 

 Beeves, except to drive them from their food ; they never 

 attempted to dispute with any other species, but would 

 feed out of the same dish with Land Rails, and other 

 birds confined with them, in perfect amity." In a wild 

 state they feed upon insects and worms. 



In Ireland, as recorded by Mr. Thompson, the Ruff ap- 

 pears occasionally in spring and autumn. A few are ob- 

 served in various parts of England, generally in autumn. 

 A considerable flight, supposed to be young birds, were 

 seen near Godalming in Surrey, on the 20th of August, 

 1836. The Rev. Richard Lubbock sends me word that in 

 Norfolk the Ruff is still found in small numbers, in diffe- 

 rent parts of the fens of that county, but so much decreas- 

 ed, that the fenmen find setting snares for them no longer 

 answers. He has never known them taken with a net in 

 Norfolk, but always by the gun, or horsehair nooses dis- 

 posed around the MIL An old snarer told him he had 

 taken six couple in a morning off one hill. A man has 

 been known to make five or six pounds by these birds, 

 sold at two shillings each, in one season. A small flock 

 annually frequents Prestwick Car, near Newcastle-upon 

 Tyne, in autumn. Mr. Heysham has recorded the appear- 

 ance of young birds in the neighbourhood of Carlisle, in the 

 autumn of 1830, and '32. 



