24 
Lost British Birds. 
know of no other county in which this Harrier has recently 
nested. . . Statements respecting its breeding in Aberdeen¬ 
shire, Banffshire, etc., are simply incredible. Ireland offers 
many more congenial situations, and the bird was formerly 
common .... but since 1840, the keepers have nearly 
succeeded in exterminating it by the use of poison.” 
Few years have elapsed since this was written, and the 
keepers have now wholly succeeded; guns, traps, and poison 
have given this graceful and interesting hawk his quietus. 
XII. Buff and Beeve — Machetes pugnax. The ruff 
with his developed ear-tufts and neck frill, looking like an 
immense Elizabethan collar, or a shield with the quaint 
head for a centre, presents a very singular appearance, as 
the accompanying drawing will serve to show. These were 
its nuptial ornaments, assumed in May and shed in June or 
July. To make themselves still more conspicuous during 
the season of courtship, the birds have the curious custom 
of uniting in what are called “ Hills of Buffs.” The “ hill ” 
is a small hillock on a marshy flat, which the birds select as 
a meeting place ; every morning this spot is resorted to by a 
number of individuals, who come together to display their 
feather ornaments and to fight with each other, probably for 
possession of the females. In the districts frequented by the 
birds, it was the custom of the fowlers to find the “hills ” and 
set small liorse-hair snares on them to capture the birds ; and 
to the annual persecution of the birds in this way during the 
breeding season, we must attribute the extermination of the 
ruff and reeve in England. Down to 1834, the species was 
described as “ common ” in Norfolk, especially at Beedham 
and Acle. In north Lincolnshire, eggs were taken in 1866, 
and one nest with two eggs as recently as 1882. “ This last 
probably marks the extinction of the species in this country,” 
says Mr. Cordeaux. Lubbock, in his Fauna of Norfolk , 
attributes the great decrease in its numbers of late years to 
the beauty of the bird having caused it to be more than ever 
sought after. A ruff “ with his show on,” which is the 
