166 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



the name to, the species. Thus we have not only selection, as 

 it appears to me, but selection which, if constantly applied in 

 this direction, would have made the male Buff what he is. 



April 26th. — Rising about 2 30, was ensconced before 4, and 

 witnessed between then and 7.30 scenes which, on the whole, 

 were still more remarkable than those of yesterday. The follow- 

 ing points were noted down by me, after coming out of my 

 watch-hole, as soon as cold and stiffness would allow me to 

 write. The pairings, this morning, were more numerous, and 

 also more varied — that is to say, they were effected with a 

 greater number of Ruffs — but as a greater number of Reeves 

 were upon the ground — sometimes seven or eight at a time — it 

 does not follow that the same birds who paired before with the 

 others, paired now, with these. I noticed that one of the new 

 birds selected — though he did not rise very well to the situation 

 — was a Ruff that I had previously seen a Reeve caress by 

 pecking or nibbling with her bill amongst his head-plumes. 

 This was a very conspicuous bird, not to be mistaken for any 

 other.* Indeed, to the great advantage of precise observation, 

 every Ruff of the band is individually distinguishable from every 

 other one. Were this also the case with the Reeves I could feel 

 satisfied on some points that I am doubtful about. I can- 

 not say how many Ruffs paired this morning, but, besides the 

 two that had done so previously, and the new bird just men- 

 tioned, I do not think there were more than another couple. If 

 this be so, then out of five birds with whom actual pairing has 

 taken place two were seen by me to be unmistakably selected for 

 this office, in the early days, before, probably, it had properly 

 begun, whilst the third had been caressed by a Reeve in the way 

 previously referred to. If we suppose the Reeves to remain true 

 to a single Ruff that they choose, then, out of eight possible 

 husbands — for I have never seen more than this number of 

 Reeves together, and it seems likely that they would now all be 

 present — five are accounted for. But how are we to be sure, or 

 ought we to assume, that each Reeve pairs only with a single 

 bird ? First, if this were not the case, to any marked degree, 

 one would hardly expect the nuptial habits of the Ruff to be what 

 they are, for, as there would then be no difficulty in each bird 



* Except one, which, however, seldom visited this meeting-place. 



