310 A DESCRIPTION OF 
THE RUFF AND REEVE. ( Tringa pugnax.) 
IT is curious to see in our observation of natural objects, 
how the creative power of Providence seems to have 
tried all forms and shapes in the composition of species. 
In the cock bird of this species a circle or collar of long 
feathers, somewhat resembling a ruff, encompasses the 
neck under the head, whence the bird took the name of 
Ruff. It is about a foot in length, with a bill about an 
inch long, There is a wonderful and almost infinite 
variety in the colours of the feathers of the males ; so that 
in spring there can scarcely be found any two exactly 
alike. After moulting time they become all alike again. 
The hens are smaller than the cocks, and their feathers 
undergo no change. The female is called a Reeve, and 
the flesh of this bird is thought a great delicacy for the 
table. The males are very fond of fighting, and they 
attack each other with such fury, that the bird has received 
the name of pugnax, which signifies fighting. These are 
birds of passage, and arrive in the fens of Lincolnshire, 
and other similar places, in the spring. Mr. Pennant tells 
us, that in the course of a single morning more than six 
dozen have been caught in one net ; and that a fowler has 
