The Ruff and Reeve. '4s 



The RufF and Reeve are not uncommon on our coasts in tlie autumn, usually 

 found in small parties of half-a-dozen or so, and flying with considerable rapidity. 

 Their note is unmusical, and may be roughly described as the syllable " wick " 

 repeated several times rapidly. Occasionally this bird is found some distance 

 inland, as was the case with the young male described above, shot by the Nene 

 in mid-Northants, at the end of September. I was at some pains in this case to 

 ascertain the nature of the bird's food; this is a branch of study I strongly 

 recommend to young ornithologists. The only way to know with certainty the 

 food of a species, is to ascertain what individuals have eaten, and this would 

 save us from a good deal of the rubbish that is written nowadays by enthusiastic 

 amateurs, as to the usefulness, or the reverse, of various species of birds to man 

 — this of course is not, as they appear to imagine, a matter of opinion — still less 

 of imagination — but of exact and careful investigation, such as was undertaken, 

 some years ago, by Mr. J. H. Gumey, in the case of the Sparrow. 



In the case of this young RufF, I took from the lower end of the oesophagus 

 (there is no dilation of this organ which can be properly called a crop), and the 

 gizzard, the following mixed assortment, or "general cargo": four larvae 

 of an ephemera, a grass-hopper's hind leg, some remains (a good deal) of fresh 

 water bivalves, two crane flies, a fat white coleopterous grub, a black fly, much 

 gravel, a considerable quantity of " mush," in which were visible various unrecog- 

 nizable scraps of insects, and also a good deal of fresh water alga. It is easy to 

 slit with a pair of fine scissors, or a blunt-pointed bistoury, the oesophagus and 

 gizzard of a bird, and, removing the contents with a pair of forceps, wash them 

 in a watch glass in two or three changes of water, till they shew their real nature 

 under a pocket lens. 



By the sea I have generally found small mollusca and Crustacea to form the 

 bulk of the food of Ruffs and Reeves. In confinement they used to be fattened 

 for the table on bread and milk, and even boiled wheat. 



At the risk of incurring the publisher's wrath on account of exceeding my 

 due space, I cannot but add a graphic account from Abel Chapman's " Wild 

 Norway," published since I wrote the above, describing Rufis "hilling" in 

 Denmark. "A dozen Rufis, of a dozen different colours, dot the patch of down- 

 trodden grass ; presently, with a loud clap of a wing against his side, one darts 

 at another, wings half spread, feathers all on end, and the long ruff" and ear-tufts 

 erected to the utmost. The champions stand facing each other with lowered necks 

 and drawn swords — not six inches apart — like game cocks. For two whole minutes 

 they stand thus, immovable ; then there is a sharp pass— so quick, one cannot 

 follow it — and one of the combatants darts off", vanquished, at amazing speed. 



Vol. V X 



