7. pugnax, Lin. Ste. The young are, 7'. littorea, Gmel. 7'. Grenovicensis. Lath. and Totanus cinereus, Briss.; whilst the adult females, and the young after their autumnal moult, are T. equestris, Lath. Ruff, female Reeve. Bill very slightly inclined, and inflated towards the tip, legs long, tail rounded, the two middle tail feathers striped, the three lateral always of a uniform colour. The details of the markings are so variable, that two indivi duals are seldom found of the same pattern, and that or nithologists only begin to collect the numerous synonymes of the species. The male is distinguished by a ruff, or large tuft of feathers, which he does not acquire till the second year, and which falls off in moulting, leaving him more like his mate, till spring, when he not only resumes the ruff, but certain red tubercles on the face. Length eleven inches and from four to six lines ; the female is about one-third smaller, and wants the ruff. These birds inhabit Europe and Siberia, and are particularly abundant in Holland, haunting moist and marshy meadows, and sometimes visiting the sea-shore in spring. At that season they arrive in this island; and, with a very few exceptions, which seem to be accidental, they leave it in autumn. They are even known to breed as far north as in the swamps of Lapland and Siberia.
At present, the few that, comparatively speaking, visit Great Britain, confine themselves, in the breeding season, to the eastern parts, where the only extensive fens, suited to their mode of life, still exist. They were, however, in former times, not uncommon in the neighbourhood of Bridgewater, in Somersetshire, before the grounds were drained. In the country of Lincoln they have become much more scarce than usual, since large tracts of fenny soil have been drained and inclosed. Some scattered in dividuals still haunt the vicinity of Crowland ; but the north fen, near Spalding, and the east and west fens be tween Boston and Spilsby, are the only spots which appear to produce them with certainty,. though by no means i plentifully. The trade for catching them, too, is now limited to a few individuals, who live in obscure places, on the verge of the fens, and who are little more than re munerated for their trouble, and the expellee of their nets. In spring, the ruffs hill, as it is called, or assemble on a rising spot of ground, contiguous to the destined breeding station. There they take their stand, at a small distance from one another, and fiercely contend for the females. The fowler, from habit, discovers this resort for love and tournaments, by the birds having trodden the turf some what bare, though not in a circle, as usually described. Hither he repairs before day-break, spreads his net, places his decoy-birds, and stations himself at the distance of a hundred and forty yards, or more, according to the shyness of the birds. The net, which is seventeen feet in length, and six in breadth, is easily pulled over the birds within reach, and rarely fails to entangle them. As the ruffs
feed Chiefly by night, they repair to their frequented hill at the dawn of day, nearly all at the same time; and the fowler makes his first pull according to circumstances, takes out his birds, and prepares for the stragglers, which traverse the fens, and have no adopted hill. These are caught singly, being enticed by rudely-stuffed skins of their own species. In this country, however, the spring capture is inconsiderable; for the old hirdq ;Ire to pine, and will not readily fatten ; and though they are fre quently seen in the Parisian markets at that season, they are not then much prised by judges of good eating. In this island, most of them are caught in September, and particularly about Michaelmas, at which time few old males are taken, from which it has been supposed that they migrate before the females and the young. But it is more probable that such as are left after the spring fowl. ing, like other polygamous birds, keep in parties separate from the female and her brood till the return of spring. The long feathers on the neck and sides of the head, that constitute the ruff and auricles, are of short duration, for they are scarcely completed in the month of May, and they begin to fall the latter end of June. The change of these singular parts is accompanied by a complete change of plumage; the stronger colours, such as purple, cites nut, and some others, vanish at the same time ; so that, in their winter dress, they become more generally alike, from being less varied in plumage; but those that have the ruff more or less white retain that colour about the neck, after the summer or autumnal moulting is effected.
The reeves begin to lay their eggs the first or second week in May ; and the young have been found hatched as early as the third of June, when the males cease to hill. The nest is usually formed on a tump, in the most swampy places, surrounded by coarse grass, of which it is also formed. The eggs are usually four, and so nearly similar in colour to those of the snipe and red-shank, both of which breed in the same wet places, and make similar nests, that some experience is required to discriminate them. They are, however, superior in size to the former, and are known from the latter by the ground being of a greenish hue instead of rufous white; but individual in stances assimilate so nearly as not to he distinguished, especially as the dusky and brown spots and blotches are similar. It is a remarkable character of these birds, that they feed most greedily the moment they are taken; a basin of bread and milk, or boiled wheat, placed before them, is instantly contended for; and so pugnacious is their disposition, that they would starve in the midst of plenty, if several dishes of food were not placed among them at a distance from one another.