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allen’s naturalist’s library. 
who all the time appears to be utterly indifferent to the fact 
that his pirouetting and dancing is done for her edification. 
In the Zoological Gardens at Rotterdam I have seen a dozen 
males engaged in showing off, and the antics they play are 
very amusing. After springing up into the air and turning 
round several times, they always end by standing stock still, 
with the bill pointed to the ground, so as to show their neck- 
shield and hood to the greatest advantage, and in this position 
they remain for two or three minutes at a time. Occasionally 
two males will engage in a fight, dancing opposite to each 
other, but the combats are bloodless and very few feathers fly. 
The habit of the Ruff in selecting some bare knoll of ground 
on which to conduct his display has gained for it the ordinary 
term of “ hiir’-ing. Mr. A. C. Chapman has given a good 
account of the habits of the birds as observed by himself and 
his brother Mr. Abel Chapman in West Jutland. He observes : 
“The Ruffs, according to their well-known habit, had 
selected certain ‘hills’ on which to conduct their amorous 
conflicts, and it was with the greatest interest that we watched 
these singular birds, in congregations of from six to eight to 
twenty or thirty individuals, beating their flanks and otherwise 
performing the strangest antics. Often a pair of Ruffs would, 
with ruff and ear-tufts erect, stand facing each other for 
minutes together, their heads lowered, and their bills nearly 
touching each other. Then one would spring into the air and 
make a desperate rush at his retiring adversary, their aptitude 
for running over the ground at a marvellous speed being most 
extraordinary. Very frequently no Reeve was present during 
these exhibitions, and the persistency with which the birds 
refuse to be driven away from their selected ‘ hills ’ merits 
attention. Some of these actions of the Ruffs, when at play, 
reminded me of the gambols of an old Black-Cock on a 
Northumbrian hill-side in the month of April.” 
The food of the Ruff consists, like that of other wading 
birds, of insects and worms, but they will also eat vegetable 
substances and rice, as well as the seeds of aquatic plants. 
Nest.— Mr. Chapman says The Reeves seem to breed 
quite separately from each other, and invariably choose a tuft 
of long rough grass for the nest, which is deep and always 
well concealed. In one instance a Red-shank and a Reeve 
