Tringa pugnax, LINNÆUS; Le Combattant, ou Paon de Mer, BUFFON;
Die Kampfhahn, BECHSTEIN.
The ruff is about the size of the lapwing, and is found in the north of
Europe, near lakes, ponds, and extensive marshes. It is almost the only
wild bird whose plumage varies like our domesticated ones, ash-grey,
brown, black, and white, being combined in a thousand different ways, so
that it is rare to meet with two birds alike. The following are the
characteristics of the species:--1st, a kind of ruff or collar, formed of
long feathers hanging around the neck, which are raised when the bird is
angry, and stand out on all sides; 2nd, the face red, and covered with
pimples; the beak and feet also red.
The colours of the females are more uniform:--pale brown, the back
streaked with black, the breast and belly white, and the neck plain
without the ruff.
It feeds on insects, worms, and roots, and makes its nest in a tuft of
grass or rushes. The females are tolerably good for the table, but the
male must be fattened before it is eatable. The irritable and
quarrelsome disposition of these birds is astonishing. When two males
meet they are often so enraged with each other that a net may be passed
over them without their perceiving it. If several are placed in the same
cage, they will kill one another. The young ones may easily be reared;
but it is extraordinary, that in the house, their inclination to fight
abandons them; whilst most other birds, pacific in a state of freedom,
are continually quarrelling and pecking one another when confined. It is
customary in the duchy of Bremen to put these birds into enclosed
gardens to destroy worms and other insects, but they retire into the
house for the winter; and here the old ones still quarrel both for food
and the place they wish to lie down in. They are fed on bread soaked in
milk, and meat.