89 



Obs. The variation in the coloration and markings of the nuptial plumes or ruff in the male is so great 

 that one seldom sees any two nearly alike, except in the black and white varieties. I have described 

 the latter, but have figured several other varieties. I have specimens in my collection with the ruff 

 black, black barred with white and buffy white, chestnut-red, chestnut-red barred with black and 

 marked with white, white, and white marked with pale brown and washed with creamy buff. Indeed 

 the variation is almost endless, as may be seen in a very rich series in the collection of my friend 

 Mr. G. Cavendish Taylor, who has for long been collecting varieties of this species in summer dress. 

 One of these is very peculiar, having the pectoral ruff black marked with drop-shaped spots of 

 ochreous yellow. 



The range of this Wader extends over the whole of Europe, except in the extreme north ; and 

 in Asia it has been met with as far east as Kamtschatka. In the winter season it ranges far 

 south, and has been obtained in Africa as far south as the Cape of Good Hope. 



Formerly it used to breed even commonly in some parts of England ; but now it is almost 

 extinct as a breeding species, though it occurs not unfrequently on passage. I have shot speci- 

 mens on many parts of our south coast in the autumn ; and it appears to be generally distributed 

 during the seasons of passage in suitable localities. Mr. A. G. More, in his notes on the distri- 

 bution of birds during the nesting-season, says (Ibis, 1865, p. 437) that, like the Black-tailed 

 Godwit, the present species is " rapidly disappearing before the advance of cultivation and 

 drainage. Montagu was informed that Ruffs were not uncommon in the fens about Bridgewater, 

 in Somersetshire, before they were drained. In Suffolk the bird appears to have become quite 

 extinct ; but Mr. Stevenson says that a few pairs still breed in Eastern Norfolk, where, happily, 

 they are strictly preserved. It is extinct in Huntingdon, Cambridge, and Northampton, and 

 probably also in Lincolnshire. In Yorkshire the Ruff appears to have ceased to breed, though 

 Mr. Reid remembered them to have been quite plentiful. Mr. Hancock and the Rev. H. B. 

 Tristram tell me that the bird has become extinct in Durham, but still breeds occasionally in 

 Northumberland." It is found now and again on inland sheets of water in our midland counties ; 

 and Lord Lilford informs me that it occasionally visits flooded meadows near Oundle, in North- 

 amptonshire, usually in August ; he adds that twenty or thirty years ago, he recollects, it used 

 to be tolerably common in Whittlesea Wash in September and October. With regard to its 

 occurrence in Norfolk, Mr. Stevenson writes (B. of Norfolk, ii. p. 263), "Hickling alone is 

 visited annually by a few of these birds ; but should they become exterminated, the race of 

 Norfolk (may we not almost say of British V) Ruffs will have become extinct. Can nothing be 

 done to secure, before it is too late, the same protection for our resident Waders as is about to 

 be afforded to the sea-fowl on our coasts and the 'loons' on our inland waters'? In this instance, 

 I know, the lord of the manor does his utmost to protect the Ruffs and Reeves in his marshes ; 

 but so long as no actual penalty attaches to the robbery of the nests or the snaring of hen birds 

 in the act of incubation, it is impossible to preserve effectually in such places. Idle hands will 

 always be found ready to risk the trespass as long as cash or beer at the village public forms a 

 tempting bait, with but little fear of detection. In my own notes for the last sixteen years I 

 find frequent entries with reference to both eggs and birds brought up to Norwich for sale from 

 the Hickling marshes; and in the summer of 1866, when there were an unusual number of nests, 

 a corresponding supply of Reeves' eggs found their way into the hands of our birdstuffers. Two 



