Class II. RUFF SANDPIPER. 73 



the more numerous the pimples, and the fuller 

 and longer the ruffs. 



The length of the male to the tip of the tail is 

 one foot, the breadth two ; the length of the 

 Reeve ten inches, the breadth nineteen; the 

 weight of the former when just taken is seven 

 ounces and a half; of the latter only four. 



The Reeves never change their colors, which Female. 

 are pale brown ; the back spotted with black, 

 slightly edged with white ; the tail brown ; the 

 middle feathers spotted with black ; the breast 

 and belly white; the legs of a pale dull 

 yellow. 



These birds appear in the fens in the earliest 

 spring, and disappear about Michaelmas. The 

 Reeves lay four eggs in a tuft of grass, the first 

 week in Alay, and sit about a month. The 

 eggs are white, marked with large rusty spots. 

 Fowlers avoid in general taking the females, - 

 not only because they are smaller than the males, 

 but that they may be left to breed. 



Soon after their arrival, the males begin to 

 /?i//, that is to collect on some dry bank near a 

 splash of water, in expectation of the females, 

 who resort to them. Each male keeps posses- 

 sion of a small piece of ground, which it runs 

 round till the grass is worn quite away, and 

 nothing but a naked circle is left. When a 



