MU. W. W. SPELMAN ON THE OCCURRENCE OF THE RUFF IN WINTER. 551 
« 
XXI. 
OCCURRENCE OF THE RUFF ( MACHETES FUGNAX) 
IN WINTER. 
Bv W. W. Spelman. 
Read 2Slh February, 1899. 
On tho lltli of February, 1899, two Ruffs, both males, were killed 
out of a Hock of Lapwings feeding in a Wheat-field, at Postwick, 
near Norwich, belonging to Mr. Charles Waters, who kindly forwarded 
them to me. As the occurrence of this species in the county of 
Norfolk, in winter, is probably unprecedented, and the plumage is 
peculiar, I have much pleasure in exhibiting them at this meeting 
of the Naturalists’ Society. Looking at these two specimens one 
is at once struck by the peculiarly light colour of the neck and 
breast, only one or two minute dark feathers being as yet in evidence. 
Those that we occasionally see late in April or in May, the usual 
time of their occurrence, are dark in their neck and breast plumage, 
even if not in actual possession of their distinctive “ Ruff.” Stevenson 
(B. of N. vol. ii. p. 265) notes the appearance of a Ruff and two 
Reeves on the 26th of March, 1852, and mentions it particularly 
as a very early date, so that the fact therefore of these two specimens 
having been killed so early as the 1 4th of February, leads me to 
the belief expressed by Mr. Gurney, that their being so taken is 
unprecedented, at least in this county. In the issue of ‘ The Field,’ 
of the 4th of March, I note with interest the record of a male 
Ruffs taken at Weymouth, on the 20th of February, and two others 
seen at the same time. The two birds in question will be an 
interesting addition to my series of Ruffs and Reeves in breeding 
plumage. How far this early appearance of the Ruff may be due 
to the wonderfully mild winter I will not venture an opinion. 
p p 2 
