BRITISH BIRDS. 
96 
in others black and yellow, and in others again 
white, ruft colour, or barred with gloffy violet, 
black and white. They are, however, more nearly 
alike in other refpe^ls : they meafure about a foot 
in length, and two in breadth, and, when firft ta- 
ken, weigh about feven ounces and an half; the 
female feldom exceeds four. The bill is more than 
an inch long, black at the tip, and reddifh yellow 
towards the bafe ; the irides are hazel : the whole 
face is covered with reddifh tubercles, or pimples : 
the wing coverts are brownifh afli-colour : the up- 
per parts and the break are generally marked with 
tranfverfe bars, and the fcapulars with roundifh- 
Ihaped gloffy black fpots, on a rufty-coloured 
ground : quills dufky : belly, vent, and tail coverts 
white : the tail is brown, the four middle feathers 
of it are barred with black : the legs are yellow. 
The male does not acquire the ornament of his 
neck till the fecond feafon, and, before that time, is 
not eafily diftinguifhed from the female, except by 
being larger. After moulting, at the end of June, 
he loofes his ruff and the red tubercles on his face, 
and from that time until the fpring of the year, he 
again, in plumage, looks like his mate. 
Thefe birds leave Great Britain in the winter, 
and are then fuppofed to affociate with others of 
the Tringa genus, among which they are no long- 
er recogTiized as the Ruff and Reeve. In the fpring, 
as foon as they arrive again in England, and take 
