OBSEKVED IN' HEBTFOKDSHIKE IN' 1885 . 
57 
southern counties during the winter months. Montagu informs 
us that its principal food consists of marine insects and shellfish, 
and that from its adroitness in getting at an oyster, a feat per¬ 
formed by killing the oyster when the shells are partly open, it 
has acquired its name. 
11. The Ruff (Machetes pugnax ).—I am indebted to the Munden 
collection for the mention of this bird. The beautiful specimens 
now exhibited were shot between the years 1840 and 1850. The 
ruff is one of the most noticeable of British waders. It formerly 
bred abundantly in the fen-districts of Lincolnshire, and Montagu 
relates that twenty-seven dozen of these birds were taken at one 
time by a Spalding dealer for artificial naturalisation at Chatsworth 
and in Ireland. At present it is a rare summer migrant. The 
male bird is distinguished during the breeding-season by a very 
conspicuous collar or ruff that surrounds its neck, and from which 
it takes its name. This ruff varies considerably in colour, and in 
the autumn it is lost altogether. The female, or reeve, is much 
smaller and plainer in plumage than the ruff, but it is said to 
exceed the male sex in number in the proportion of about three to 
one. This disproportion will probably account for the fact that, 
unlike most of its class, the ruff is polygamous. Contests take 
place annually between the male birds for the favour of the reeves, 
and these amatory battles are conducted in a most systematic and 
businesslike manner. I shall venture to summarize an admirable 
description which has been given of them by Mr. Henry Seebohm.f 
The males contend in single combat for the right of being “ Cock 
of the walk,” and for this purpose suitable battle-fields are chosen, 
sometimes on a slight elevation, but more generally a patch of open 
ground four or five feet across, with short level grass, and so situ¬ 
ated as to command the view of the admiring females, is selected. 
The same ground is chosen year after year, and two or three duels 
are frequently going on at the same time. These contests are not 
commenced until the ruff or collar is fully grown, and are dis¬ 
continued as soon as the feathers on the neck begin to fall out, 
which happens about six weeks later. 
12. The Redshank (Totanus Calidris ).—In my report for 1880 
I recorded the taking of a greenshank by Mr. A. Dyson, and, at 
the same time, he was good enough to show me a beautiful speci¬ 
men of its congener, the redshank, also shot by himself on the 
Colne meadows. It was killed prior to 1877, and I have not, on 
that account, hitherto noticed it. The redshank, although abundant 
on the coasts, is met with in Hertfordshire only as an occasional 
visitor. Mr. Seebohm describes its habits as follows.^ It is a 
resident, frequenting almost all parts of the coast in autumn and 
winter, and retiring more or less inland in summer. It breeds in 
all suitable districts throughout England, especially in the low- 
lying eastern counties. Hertfordshire is singularly free from swamp 
* ‘ Ornithological Dictionary,’ p. 351. 
f ‘British Birds,’ vol. iii, p. 114. 
x lb., yoI. iii, p. 140. 
