PLATE LXXVI. 
The Ruff. 
The Males oT Ruffs, aflume fuch variety of colours in feveral parts of their plumage, that it is 
fcarce poffible to fee two alike j but the great length of their feathers on the neck, that gives name 
to them, at once diftinguiflies thefe from all other birds. On the back of their necks is a fingular 
tuft of feathers, fpreading wide on both fides : thefe, and the former, in fome are black, in others 
white, yellow, or ferruginous ; but this tuft and the ruffs frequently differ in the fame birds. The 
feathers, that bear an uniformity of colouring through each individual of this fex, are the coverts 
of the wings, which are brown, inclining to a(h-colour ; the feathers on the breaft, which are often 
black or dufky ; the four exterior feathers of the tail, which are of a cinerious brown ; and the 
four middle, which are barred with black and brown : the bill is black towards the end, red at the 
bafe. The legs in all are yellow. In moulting, they lofe the charafter of the long neck feathers, 
nor do they recover it till, after their return to the fens, the fpring following ; it is then they 
regain that ornament, and at the fame time a fet of fmall, pear-fliaped, yellow pimples, break out 
in great numbers on their face, above the bill. The flags, or male birds of the firft year, want thefe 
marks, and have fometimes been miflaken for a new fpecies of Tringa ; but they may be eafily 
known by the colours of the coverts of the wings, and the middle feathers of the tail. The older 
the birds are the more numerous the pimples, and the fuller and the longer the ruffs. The length 
of the Male to the tip of the tail is one foot, the breadth two. Pennant's Dcfcription. 
No. XXVI. 
Nn 
