ClafsII. RUFF. r 2 ^ 



are obliged to (hut them in a dark room, for they will 

 attack one another the moment light is admitted, and 

 never defift till they are all demoiiihed. The fow- 

 lers avoid taking the Reeves, not only becaufe they 

 are fmaller than the males, but they chufe to leave 

 them to breed. They lay four eggs in a tuft of grafs, 

 beginning to lay the firfl week in May, and fit about 

 a month ; the eggs are whitiih, thinly marked with 

 deep ferruginous fpots. Ruffs and Reeves are birds 

 ofpaffage, coming into the Fens the latter end of 

 April, and difappearing about Michaelmas. Thefe 

 birds are taken by the fen fowlers, in nets that are 

 about forty yards long, and feven or eight feet high. 

 Thefe are fupported by flicks at an angle of near forty- 

 five degrees, and placed either on dry ground, or in 

 very [hallow water, not remote from the reeds, a- 

 mong which the fowler conceals himfelf, till the birds, 

 enticed by a flale or fluffed bird, come under the 

 nets ; he then, by pulling a firing, lets them fall. 

 God wits and knots are taken in the fame man- 

 ner, only the jlale is made of a bird of the famfi 

 fpecies; 



A a i IV. th* 



