amongst these birds in aviaries their fights are never 

 very serious or long sustained, and appear to be set 

 going more for the sake of showing off to the Reeves 

 than with any intention of damage to each other ; so 

 well known was this habit in Lincolnshire in former 

 days that I have been assured by a friend that his 

 mother, a native of that county, would often check the 

 squabbles of her young family by the words "Come, you 

 children must not fight like Ruffs ! " Large numbers 

 of these birds were formerly taken in nets in the fens of 

 our eastern counties in the spring and regularly fattened 

 for the table, always commanding a ready sale at a high 

 price ; but this business has long ago been discontinued 

 for lack of birds, and the great majority of Ruffs and 

 Reeves that are now to be found in the English markets 

 are imported from the Netherlands. The natural food 

 of this species consists of insects, worms, and small 

 mollusks, but in captivity they take readily to a diet of 

 bread and milk, boiled wheat and rice, and chopped 

 liver, and on this regimen rapidly become fat ; a Ruff 

 in good condition is a most excellent bird, far superior, 

 in my estimation, to a Woodcock at its best. My own 

 acquaintance with this species in a wild state is very 

 limited : the only remarkable point about it that I have 

 observed that I have not found recorded by other 

 writers, is the ease with which these birds are attracted 

 by any unusually bright-coloured object such as a red 

 or yellow flag or handkerchief fluttering in the breeze, 

 and I have seen some of them occasionally hover over a 

 dog ; this habit is, of course, common amongst waders 

 when their nests are approached, but the instances in 



