Page:Cassell's book of birds (IA cassellsbookofbi04breh).pdf/60

 furious combatants, as they stand ruffling and swelling out their plumage, with collar and breast feathers erect, literally trembling with rage, and darting backwards and forwards towards their adversary; rapidly ducking their wart-covered heads, and keeping the hinder part of the body much raised, as they snap and probe the enemy in a very ecstasy of blind fury. At the conclusion of the fray, the combatants again stand trembling before each other, shaking themselves, and tossing up their heads in defiance; after which demonstration, if not too much fatigued, they resume their standing-places, and again look out for a willing and equally excited foe. Owing to the soft construction of the bill, serious injuries never result from these encounters; the loss of a few feathers, or the chance of being caught and pulled about by the collar, being the worst evils to which the apparently bloodthirsty duellists are exposed. Naumann is of opinion that the knobs and excrescences often seen on the beaks of the birds are attributable to blows or twists received in these violent affrays. Occasionally a female appears and takes up her post in the fighting-ground, but never does more than indulge her curiosity, by mingling with the combatants, and watching their proceedings for a short space; after which she retires, sometimes accompanied by one of the males, who, however, almost immediately returns to the field of action, without further reference to her proceedings. When the period for depositing the eggs arrives, the males separate, each in company with two females, or vice versâ, and make their nest of dry grass and stubble on some high point in a marshy locality. The eggs, four, or occasionally only three, in number, are of unusual size, with a greenish or brownish shell, more or less faintly spotted with reddish brown or pale black. The mother, who alone broods and hatches her young in from seventeen to nineteen days, is much attached to her charge, and in every respect conducts herself like a female Snipe; whilst her spouse does not concern himself in the least about the rising generation, but fights incessantly throughout the whole breeding season, after which he flies about regardless of his family, until the time comes for seeking his winter quarters. These birds are only summer visitors to England, appearing in April and taking leave in autumn; formerly, however, many Ruffs remained throughout the warm season, to breed in the fenny districts, and were caught in considerable numbers in Lincolnshire. Since the draining of the fens they have become comparatively scarce. Some years ago they were regularly procured and fattened for the table. Montagu tells us that he visited the room at Spalding where the captives were kept, and that his entrance drove them from their stands, compelling some to trespass on the premises of others, and thus producing many battles. "It is," he says, "a remarkable character of these birds that they feed most greedily the moment they are taken. No sooner is a basin of bread and milk put before them than it 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." The capture of these birds was formerly effected by means of clap-nets, with stuffed birds as decoys, placed around the hills where they assembled in the spring previous to incubation, and placed in such a manner as to be movable by means of a long string, thus producing a jerk resembling the jump so common among the Ruffs (who, at the sight of a wanderer flying by, will leap or flit a yard off the ground), and by that means induce those on the wing to alight.

The PHALAROPES (Phalaropi) possess a moderate-sized, delicate beak, which is slightly curved at its tip. In some species the bill is not broader than it is high, in others it is somewhat flattened in front. The weak low feet are bare, and furnished with four toes, of which the three anterior are united at the base, and more or less lobed on the sides as far as the tips; the hind toe is short, elevated, and margined slightly by a narrow membrane. The wing is long and pointed, with its first quill longer than the rest; the short rounded tail is composed of twelve feathers. In their mode of life these birds differ from all other members of the feathered creation. Their plumage is thick and