312 
WILD NORWAY. 
that, however often disturbed, they constantly return 
within a few minutes. 
Being polygamous birds, and very abundant, we had 
no compunction in selecting a dozen specimens from 
different hills, though, had we shot ten dozen, I doubt if 
a match could have been found ! The “ ruffs ” of those 
killed included deep bronze-black, barred with chestnut; 
pure white ; pale cream with black ear-tufts ; the same, 
but spotted with chestnut and with chestnut ear-tufts ; 
deep violet-black, spotted with white ; grey-brindled, 
and grey finely barred with black ; one a lovely uniform 
chestnut, another orange-red with black auricles, and so 
on. Nor does the variation extend only to the “ ruff,” 
but includes the whole of the back, the wing-coverts and 
breast-plumage; * even the bills, legs, and the curious 
fleshy “ warts ” which cover the face, all varied in 
each specimen. Had Nature set herself to exert all 
her ingenuity to devise the most curious possible 
diversities in a single species, she could hardly have 
produced a more striking example. 
Though the “ruff” is fully expanded when the birds 
are “ at hill,” yet it offers no impediment in flight, and 
indeed is hardly seen, the long feathers lying close 
back along the neck. A winged Buff swimming in a 
pool appeared as slim in the neck as a small gull. 
Their note is harsh and jaculatory, and is only uttered 
when on the wing. We could see no sign of these birds 
actually nesting here up to the 14th of May. 
Within fifty yards of one “ruff-hill,” “Bolf” put up 
a shoveler duck from her nest, which contained ten fresh 
* These three parts being usually, but not invariably, in har- 
mon y with the general colouring of the particular individual. 
