226 
RUFF. 
the banks of the Solway, where, at the seasons 
alluded to, they may almost always be met with. 
In the breeding plumage, as we have already 
stated, the colours, or distribution of the markings, 
are not similar in any two birds. The general 
appearance of it varies from white to very deep 
brown, variegated on the ruff and breast by cross 
markings of a deeper shade, or of black, and on the 
back and upper plumage assuming the general dis- 
tribution of the colouring of the Tringcn , but subject 
to the same variation of grey, brown, or chestnut, in 
some examples almost amounting to black ; the paler 
or very dark coloured specimens are, we believe, the 
most uncommon. It is very remarkable, however, 
that the annual changes in the same bird do not 
vary, at least such was the result of Colonel Mon- 
tague's observations on birds kept in confinement 
for three or four years ; he found the ruffs produced 
of the same colour every spring, as well as the other 
markings ; at the same time, the warty tubercles on 
the forehead did not appear in this state of restraint. 
In the birds, after the sexual adornment has passed 
away, the appearance has a resemblance both to the 
true snipes and to some of the Tringm or sand- 
pipers. In a male before us, shot on the Northum- 
brian coast, in the end of December, the crown is 
reddish-brown, deeply streaked along the centre of 
each feather with olive-brown ; the neck and breast 
are wood-brown, having the back part of the former 
clouded, by the centres of the feathers being darker, 
and, towmrds the belly, shading into pure white. 
