nuFF. 
225 
“We had occasion to remark, that although the 
pugnacious disposition of the Ruff never entirely 
ceased in confinement, yet it increased with the 
growth of the long neck feathers in spring, when 
the least movement of either, from their usual stand, 
provoked a battle. Their actions, in fighting, were 
similar to those of a game cock ; the head is low- 
ered, and the bill is held in a horizontal direction ; 
the ruff, indeed every feather, more or less distend- 
ed, the former sweeping the ground as a shield to 
defend the more tender parts ; the auricles erected, 
and the tail partly spread, upon the whole, assuming 
a most ferocious aspect. When either could obtain 
a firm hold with the bill, a leap succeeded, accom- 
panied with a stroke of the wing ; hut they rarely 
injured each other.” 
When the breeding season has terminated, and 
the young have obtained their first mature plumage, 
the males having lost their sexual adornments, a 
dispersion from the fens takes place. It is after 
this period, about the end of August or beginning 
of September, and for the next two months, that 
they are most frequently met with in Scotland, 
either as straggling birds passing along the moors, 
or on the sea shore, where they continue, often inter- 
mixed with plovers, and are to be met with in small 
parties. They are not particularly shy, and may be 
distinguished from among the other birds by which 
they are generally accompanied, by the length of 
the legs. We have often shot them on the shores of 
the Forth, from Holy Island northward, and also on 
p 
