IIUFF. 
5 
on Monday the 30th, with wind from the north-east. There were five fluffs and three Reeves on Rush Ilills, 
hut all wild and keeping a good look-out in case of an approach, and rising on wing on the first signs of danger. 
I watched them through the glasses running at one another and jumping up, but no real fighting could be seen ; 
the females were standing together at a short distance, looking on quietly. There was one solitary female 
standing on another part of the hill, that had a nest among some low tufts of grass. On the following day. May 
1st, I only saw one Ruff, and he was probably in attendance on tbe female with the nest. Other Ruffs, 
which were evidenfly on the passage to the north, were seen on the 4th, but only the resident on the 5th, 
and on the 9th he was again sighted. After this the nest was robbed, and then the birds took their departure. 
On the 18th a flock of fifteen Reeves was seen on Rush Ilills, and they remained in the district till the 21st, 
when I observed them for the last time, feeding on Swimcoats. 
While staying in Norfolk, I frequently remarked that on the first arrival of these birds, about the second 
week in April, the long feathers forming the frill round the neck of the male had scarcely attained half their 
length. In those days they were to be seen in flocks of from ten or twenty to five or six times that number. 
On two or three occasions, on the hills around the Broads, I have been enabled to watch these large gatherings 
at close quarters, and have met with good opportunities for observing their actions while fighting and feeding. 
I heir battles, however, appear to be soon over ; a couple of Ruffs square up to one another for a moment or tivo, 
and then separate to feed or again go through the same performance with their nearest neighbour. Though 
occasionally jumping and striking after the manner of a gamecock, I never noticed any of the combatants 
receive the slightest injury. A large flock of Ruffs and Reeves is a most curious sight, the various-coloured 
jilumages of the males, as they run here and there, giving a strange appearance to the whole assemblage. 
