RUFF. 6\3 



The locality inhabited by the Ruff is wet marshy tracts, 

 where their peculiar courtship is annually exhibited in the 

 following manner. By the end of April or beginning of 

 May, several Ruffs choose, each for himself, a stand on 

 an elevated spot on the boggy ground at a little distance 

 from the rest, and on the arrival of a Reeve (the female) 

 the champions all begin to fight until the victor carries off 

 the bride. These scenes may be witnessed day after day 

 during the months of April and May. The nest is placed 

 on a grassy lump in the moist swampy part of the neigh- 

 bourhood, and four eggs as represented in our plate are de- 

 posited in it. By the end of August the young are fully 

 fledged, and congregate in September to depart for their 

 winter quarters in company with the old females ; the male 

 birds migrate by themselves in flocks, and are said to live 

 sociably and peaceably through the winter ; they depart 

 some days earlier than the females and young birds, to re- 

 turn in the same order in the spring of the year. 



The food of the Ruff is worms and aquatic insects, which 

 it finds in abundance in its usual abode. 



The Ruff is not a shy bird, and can easily be kept 

 in confinement. In the fenny districts of Lincolnshire, 

 numbers are annually caught alive by means of folding 

 nets ; and this is also practised in Holland. In order to 

 entice the birds to the spot, call-birds, or stuffed birds 

 are disposed in various parts of the ground, and when new 

 ones are captured, they are caged and fattened for the mar- 

 kets. Fortunately, for the good of the bird-catchers, the 

 Ruff invariably feeds well on bread and milk, steeped grain, 

 and fig-dust or barley-meal, which improves the condition 

 and fattens the bird fast ; its flesh is greatly prized by 

 many. 



The measurements of the Ruff are as follows : — entire 



