BRITISH BIRDS. 
95 
RUFF. 
{^'Tringa PugnaX} Lin . — Le Comhattant, BufF.) 
The male of this curious fpecies is called the 
Rulf, and the female the Reeve : they differ mate- 
rially in their exterior appearance ; and alfo^ what 
is remarkable in wild birds, it very rarely happens 
that two Ruffs are alike in the colours of their 
plumage. * The lingular, wide-fpreading, varie- 
gated tuft of feathers which, in the breeding fea- 
fon, grows out of their necks, is different in 
all. This tuft or ruff, .a portion of which hands 
up like ears behind each eye, is in fome black, 
* BufFon fays, that Klien compared above a hundred Ruffs 
together, and found only two that were fipiilar. 
