394 THE COMMON SNIPE, 
It is one of the migratory species, arriving in this country in April and 
leaving by the end of September. Formerly it was so common in the fenny 
districts that six dozen have been taken by one bird catcher in a single day. 
The Ruff is a most pugnacious bird, rivalling if not exceeding the game- 
cock in irritability of temper and reckless courage. The attitude of fighting 
is not unlike that of the cock, but as they have no spurs, they cannot inflict 
severe wounds, and after a fierce contest neither party will be much the 
worse. Prolonged and obstinate combats are waged among the Ruffs for the 
possession of the females, popularly called Reeves, and as the birds make a 
great noise about their affairs, and in their eager combat trample down the 
grass on the little hills where they love to resort, the fowler knows well 
where to lay his nets. 
The Ruff is chiefly remarkable for the peculiarity from which it derives its 
name, the projecting ruff of long, closely set feathers, which surrounds the 
neck, and can be raised or lowered at pleasure. This ruff only belongs to the 
Sort 
RUFF.—(Philomachus pugnax.) SNIPE.—(Mumenius scolopacinus.) 
adult males, and is assumed by them during the short breeding season, being 
in greatest perfection about the beginning of June, and falling off by degrees 
from July to August and September. 
THE COMMON SN'PE is too well known to need much description. Its 
habits, however, are interesting, and deserve some notice. 
This bird may be seen all over England wherever damp and swampy 
places are found. When first flushed it shoots off in a straight line for a few 
yards, and then begins to twist and turn in astrangely zigzag fashion, and at 
last darts away, thereby puzzling juvenile sportsmen greatly, and often 
escaping before its enemy has got his aim. 
The male bird has a curious habit of rising to a great height in the air, 
circling repeatedly over the same ground, and uttering continually a peculiar 
cry like the words “ Chic! chic! chic-a, chic-a, chic-a,” constantly repeated. 
Every now and then the bird makes a downward stoop, and then emits a 
very singular sound, something between the bleating of a goat and the 
buzzing of a slack harp-string. How this sound is produced has long been 
a controversy, but I am convinced that it is produced by the wings—at all 
events that it is not from the mouth. 
During a recent stay in the New Forest, I set myself to the elucidation of 
this problem, and in company with two friends wert towards sunset toan 
exoclent cover near a large marsh, in which Snipes were almost as plentiful as 
