Heads and Necks 279 
We can only compare these little Joseph-coated birds 
with the unnatural sports among domestic poultry and 
pigeons. 
But whatever their colour, these Fighting Snipe find 
their ruffs of service in their encounters at the breeding 
season. Four male birds which I observed in captivity 
Fig. 223.—Ruff with battle-cloak partly moulted. 
were adorned respectively,—plain gray, dotted gray, 
chestnut barred with black, and a rich golden rufous. 
Though no females were present, yet their fighting instinct 
often cropped out and a pair of them would dart and side- 
step about each other, bills held low and far advanced, 
ruff spread out from the breast and trailing low, hiding 
almost the whole body. Now and then one of the fencers 
would make a vicious dash, sending his bill through the 
