175 
AND OOLOGIST. 
Nov., 1882.] 
The { 3 [ach€t€spugnax .)—The Ruff 
is a native of Europe, Asia and Africa and 
is a rare visitor to North America. It fre¬ 
quents bogs and marshy ground, being 
met with far inland. Ruffs and Reeves 
(the females) used to be found in large 
numbers in the English fens, but since the 
drainage and cultivation of the fens and 
marshes they have only been rare visitors 
to England. In Winter the males and fe¬ 
males are scarcely to be distinguished from 
each other, but in the Spring the males as¬ 
sume splendid ruffs or collars and become 
veiy fine birds indeed. They vary much 
in plumage, it being scarcely possible to 
find two specimens alike. Their peculiar 
and striking aj^pearance has no doubt been 
one of the causes of their being shot down. 
Ruffs and Reeves used to be in great request 
for the table, and were captured in large 
numbers by means of nets which were set 
among the places frequented by the Ruffs 
for the purpose of fighting. The captured 
bii'ds were fed upon bread and milk which 
they devoured in the most greedy manner, 
and when they had laid on enough fat they 
were killed and sent to market. During 
the breeding season the males fight in the 
most furious manner, frequenting certain 
places, in which there are small mounds, 
for the purpose of settling their quarrels. 
In these fights the combatants never do 
each other any serious harm, the loss of a 
few feathers being the only result of the 
most serious duel. Ruffs and Reeves do 
not pair. The eggs are usually foiar in 
number and are laid upon the ground. 
They are of a greenish brown, splashed 
and spotted with brown and black. The 
females alone jaerform all the functions of 
incubation, and have all the trouble of 
rearing their young. The males continue 
to fight in the most furious manner during 
the whole of the breeding season. Tlie 
food of Ruffs and Reeves consists of 
water-in seeds, worms, larvae and seeds of 
aquatic plants.— J. T. T. Ji., Ryhope, J)nr- 
hurt) Co.. R»g. 
Climbers and Climbing. 
Concerning the article on ‘‘ Climbers 
and Climbing” in the Sei^tember O. and 
O., I disagree wdth J. M. W. on some 
points. Walking up a tree steadying 
one’s self by the tips of the fingers will 
do in many cases, but not in all, as I have 
found from experience. I will give one 
instance in 2)roof. Standing in a swamj), 
close on the lake shore in New York, is a 
very large soft majile over seventy feet 
high and nearly dead. On the toji of this 
tree a j^air of Bald Eagles have nested for 
many years and I have climbed to the nest 
six or seven times. The bark of this tree 
is nearly three inches thick, figuring the 
rough outer jjart. The climbers that I 
used on this tree, and similar ones, had 
spurs two and three-fourths inches in 
length—they were not a wdiit too long— 
and it was necessary to strike twice and 
often three times to knock off the ross and 
get a firm hold. As for converting my¬ 
self into a horizontal letter V, “ merely- 
touching the tijis of the fingers in the 
ridges of the bark.” it was entirely im¬ 
practicable. I do not believe in hugging 
a tree, but I must confess that I have 
done a great deal of it on this 2)articular 
tree. There is another very important 
thing, not mentioned in the article, that 
collectors should look well to. It is that 
the S2)urs of their climbei’s are 2iro2)erly 
tenqjered and without flaw's. Five or six 
years ago I was climbing an ash tree, 
steadying myself by the fingers. When I 
was uji about twenty feet the S2:)ur broke 
that I w'as resting on. I slijijied five or 
six feet, trij)ped on a limb, keeled over and 
landed on my back in soft, black mud and 
w'ater. It wasn’t very jjleasant. I harcUy 
think that the climbing of telegrajfli men 
is a fair examjfle, for they have only small, 
smooth, soft i)ine or cedar to w-ork on. 
In conclusion, I’m not a discijile of Inger- 
soll, for I have never read his work 
referred to.— T). K. Stone, Uaneoek, Col- 
orndo. 
