THE RUFF AND REEVE IN LINCOLNSHIRE. 205 



these districts within the memory of old fenmen living. This 

 would be from the middle to the end of the 18th century, when 

 the conditions of existence were undoubtedly more favourable to 

 their preservation and regular breeding. 



From our somewhat restricted knowledge of those earlier 

 times, we are perhaps apt to connect the former summer haunts 

 of Buff and Keeve entirely with the unreclaimed fens and 

 marshes of Lincolnshire and Norfolk; yet there is sufficient 

 data to show how abundant at one time was this species over 

 the whole of the low-lying lands of Lincolnshire north of the 

 true fen ; in the Humber marshes to the junction of that river 

 with the Trent ; the wastes of Axholme, and all the wild heath- 

 clad commons, some thousands of acres, which extended almost 

 unbroken from Mid-Lincolnshire to the extreme north-western 

 boundary of the county. 



In later years the spring haunt par excellence of the Buff and 

 Keeve has been that broad belt of grass-lands, better known as 

 the marshes, the great maritime plain of Lincolnshire, between 

 Gibraltar Point and the mouth of the Trent — a lonely district, 

 little disturbed except by the shepherd and his dogs, and the 

 chance visits of some grazier to inspect his flocks and herds in 

 their summer pasture. Here in late spring-time the lush-green 

 pastures, dark under the keen east winds, spread like an ocean, 

 league on league, to a sky horizon, or finally merge into that long 

 irregular line of sand-dunes which fringe the desolate coast. 



The Eev. W. B. Stonehouse, in the ' History and Topography 

 of the Isle of Axholme,' published in 1839, speaking of the Buff, 

 says, " Soon after their arrival in the spring, they take up their 

 abode in such marshy and fenny places as formerly abounded in 

 the commons of the Isle of Axholme ; and each of the males, of 

 which there appears to be a greater number than the females, 

 immediately fixes upon a particular dry and grassy spot in the 

 marsh, about which he runs round and round until it is trodden 

 bare. As soon as a single female arrives, her feeble cry rouses 

 all the males to war, for they instantly begin to fight, and she 

 becomes the prize of the victor. An old fowler told me that 

 these birds form themselves into a circle, while two of them 

 fight a pitched battle in the centre. During the engagement 

 the rest keep running round. I went with him in the year 1819 

 on Burringham Moors to ascertain the fact, but was not able to 



