182 
British Birds. 
THE RUFF. 
( Pavoncella pugnax.) 
This is one of the most curious of all Wading Birds, for no 
two males are exactly alike. On the sides of the crown is a kind 
of ruff or tippet, while on the breast is a large shield of plumes, 
and these may be of any colour or pattern, plain white or black, or barred with 
white, rufous, black, or cream-colour, in never ending variety. The female and the 
male in winter plumage, as well as the young birds, look like any ordinary Tattler. 
The male is much larger than the 
female, which is known as the 
‘ Reeve.’ There is no white on the 
quills, but the axillaries are white, 
so that the bird in winter plumage 
can be easily recognised. 
The Ruff used formerly to breed in 
our fen-lands, but is now only an oc- 
casional visitor. It nests in favoured 
localities in Northern Europe and Si- 
beria, and can still be seen breeding in 
the marsh-lands of Northern France, 
Holland and Denmark. The head- 
dress and the pectoral frill are orna- 
ments donned for the breeding-season, and the males fight for the possession 
of the females. The nest is a depression in a tuft of long grass, and the eggs, 
always well-concealed, are four in number, olive or clay-coloured, with streaks or 
blotches of rufous brown or black, with underlying markings of purplish-grey. The 
length is from about an inch-and-a-half to an inch-and-three-quarters. 
The Ruff. 
Bartram’s Tattler. 
The Buff-breasted Sandpiper. 
In the genus Bartramia the bill is short and not 
so long as the tail, the latter being graduated, and the 
outer feathers much shorter than the middle ones. The 
general colour of the bird is tawny, mottled or barred with black. It is a North 
BARTRAM’S TATTLER. 
(Bartyamia longicauda.) 
