95 



which I transcribe as follows : — " The trade of catching Ruffs is confined to a very few persons, 

 and at present scarcely repays their trouble and expense of nets. These people live in obscure 

 places on the verge of the fens and are found out with difficulty ; for few if any birds are ever 

 bought but by those who make a trade of fatting them for the table; and they sedulously 

 conceal the abode of the fowlers — so much so, that by no art could we obtain from any of them 

 where they resided; and in order to deceive us, after evading our entreaties, they gave us 

 instructions that led us in quite a contrary direction. The reason of all this was obvious ; for 

 after much labour and search, in the most obscure places (for neither the innkeepers nor other- 

 inhabitants of the towns could give any information, and many did not know such a bird was 

 peculiar to their fens), we found out a very civil and intelligent fowler, who resided close to 

 Spalding, at Fen-gate, by name William Burton (we feel a pleasure in recording his name, not 

 only from his obliging nature, but for the use of others in similar pursuits) ; and, strange 

 to say, although this man had constantly sold Ruffs to Mr. Towns, a noted feeder, hereafter 

 more particularly noticed, as also to another feeder, at Cowbit, by the name of Weeks, neither 

 of those persons could be induced to inform us even of the name of this fowler. The reason, 

 however, was evident, and justly remarked by Burton ; for he obtained no more than ten shillings 

 per dozen, whereas Weeks demanded thirty shillings for the like number he had the same day 

 bought of Burton. The season was far advanced, and we were obliged to buy some at that price 

 of Weeks ; for Burton could not then catch us as many as were required. 



"At this time we were shown into a room where there were about seven dozen males and a 

 dozen females ; and of the former there were not two alike. This intrusion to choose our birds 

 drove them from their stands, and, compelling some to trespass upon the premises of others, 

 produced many battles. 



" By the feeder we learned that two guineas a dozen was now the price for fattened Ruffs ; 

 and he never remembered the price under thirty shillings when fit for table. 



" Mr. Towns, the noted feeder at Spalding, assured us his family had been a hundred years 

 in the trade, and boasted that they had served George the Second, and many noble families in 

 the kingdom. He undertook, at the desire of the late Marquis of Townsend, when that noble- 

 man was Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, to take some Ruffs to that country, and actually set off 

 with twenty-seven dozen from Lincolnshire, left seven dozen at the Duke of Devonshire's at 

 Chatsworth, continued his route across the kingdom to Holyhead, and delivered seventeen 

 dozen alive in Dublin, having lost only three dozen in so long a journey, confined and greatly 

 crowded as they were in baskets which were carried upon two horses. 



" Nothing can more strongly evince the hardy constitution of these birds than the perform- 

 ance of such a journey, so soon after capture, and necessarily fed with a food wholly new to them ; 

 and yet a certain degree of care and attention is requisite to preserve, and more especially to 

 fatten them ; for out of the seventeen dozen delivered at the Castle of Dublin, not more than 

 two dozen were served up to table, doubtless entirely owing to a want of knowledge or attention 

 of the feeder under whose care they had been placed. 



"The manner of taking these birds is somewhat different in the two seasons. In the spring 

 the Ruffs hill, as it is termed ; that is, they assemble upon a rising spot of ground contiguous to 

 where the Reeves propose to deposit their eggs ; there they take their stand at a small distance 



