40 



CASSELL'S BOOK OF BIRDS. 



marshy plains, and frequently appearing in the immediate neighbourhood of the sea, where they often 

 mingle with the busy hosts that are ever ready to seize upon the rich and varied store of food left 

 behind by the receding tide. Naumann asserts, however, that this species never remains near or 

 ventures into the water, but after joining in the busy scene for a short time, always returns to its usual 

 haunts. Unlike other Sandpipers, these birds are met with far inland, where they not only dwell upon 

 the banks of rivers, but wander into the plains and cultivated districts. In Central Europe they usually 

 arrive in flocks, about May, and begin to leave about July and August, travelling by night, and pursuing 

 their course in long lines that sometimes assume a wedge-like arrangement, the males journeying apart 

 from the females. The extensive parties seen by us in the Soudan consisted almost exclusively of 





1 |l - 



the ruff (PhUomachus pugnax). male :n full plumage. 



females, from which fact we concluded that the males do not often migrate so far south as Africa. 

 The females are the first to seek and the last to leave the winter quarters, and yet strange to say, they 

 generally return to their last summer's abode in company with their former mates. Before and after 

 the breeding season, male and female are scarcely distinguishable, either in appearance or demeanour ; 

 but during that period the former exhibit an excitement that is quite without a parallel. Water 

 insects, beetles, and worms, with seeds of many kinds, afford them the means of subsistence, and for 

 these they seek principally at early morning or evening, visiting certain spots with great regularity, and 

 keeping strictly within a limited hunting ground. Whilst thus engaged they move leisurely, and with 

 conscious dignity, keeping steadily and quietly at work, and only betraying their presence by a weak 

 hoarse cry, as they rise with light and hovering wing into the air. At the approach of night they 

 become- somewhat more lively, and indulge in. sportive flights.in company with .their feathered brethren. 



