294 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



— a wretched-looking little creature, with the neck in great part 

 naked— moved forward amongst the crowd, there was a general 

 commotion, and then all either lay prostrate, or crouched, with 

 the head bowed down, in the way I have described. Going up, 

 now, to one, she showed evident signs of partiality, caressing it, 

 though slightly, on the neck with her bill, and then made a 

 motion as though to mount upon its back and perform the sexual 

 office. These actions she repeated once or twice, and then stood 

 quietly by this bird's side, turning, after a time, her bill into the 

 feathers of her back, and dozing a little. The Huff thus dis- 

 tinguished pressed himself more than once against the ground, 

 as though in an ecstasy, and, at the last, rose and ruffled towards 

 her, before sinking down again, when she moved a step or two 

 also, and again stood beside him. All the while — as this morn- 

 ing — the other males remained quiet, not one offering to inter- 

 fere. The chosen Buff was a golden-brown one, with his nuptial 

 plumage well grown — a fine handsome bird. 



From time to time, both this morning and also in the after- 

 noon, either the whole flock of birds, or some part of them, 

 would fly suddenly off, and, after a short flight, return again — 

 either some or all of them. On one occasion, this afternoon, the 

 Reeve — the only one, I think, at the time — suddenly darted off, 

 and was followed, on the instant, by all the Ruffs. About four 

 a Reeve came flying in, accompanied by a single male. Whether 

 it was the Reeve who had made the advances, and whether the 

 Ruff was the one she had favoured, I cannot say, not having at 

 the time paid the requisite attention. True, no other Ruff can 

 be confounded with this particular brown one, if one thinks of it ; 

 but if one doesn't think of it, there are others who are brown 

 more or less. It is possible, therefore, that the actual pairing 

 amongst Ruffs may be accomplished in the open country, the 

 Reeve, with the male she has chosen, separating themselves from 

 the others, who may go off with them from the place of assembly. 

 From what I have seen, however, I should rather think that this 

 latter is the recognized place for the performance of the nuptial 



rite.* 



* As will appear by the story, this is certainly the case. 



(To be continued.) 



