The male of this curious species is called the ruff, and the female the reeve: they differ materially in their exterior appearance; and also, what is remarkable in wild birds, it very rarely happens that two ruffs are alike in the colours of their plumage. The singular, wide-spreading, variegated tuft of feathers which, in the breeding season, grows out of their necks, is different in all. The tuft, or ruff, a portion of which stands up like ears behind each eye, is in some black, in others black and yellow, and in others again white, rust colour, or barred with glossy violet, black and white. They are, however, more nearly alike in other respects: they measure about a foot in length, and two in breadth, and when first taken weigh about seven ounces and a half; the female seldom exceeds four. The bill is more than an inch long, black at the tip, and reddish yellow towards the base; the irides are hazel: the whole face is covered with reddish tubercles, or pimples; the wing coverts are brownish ash colour; the upper parts and the breast are generally marked with transverse bars, and the scapulars with roundish-shaped glossy black spots, on a rusty coloured ground; quills dusky; belly, vent, and tail coverts white; the tail is brown; the four middle feathers of it are barred with black; the legs are yellow. The male does not acquire the ornament of his neck till the second season, and, before that time, is not easily distinguished from the female, except by being larger. After moulting, at the end of June, he loses his ruff and the red tubercles on his face, and from that time until the spring of the year, he again, in the plumage, looks like his mate.
These birds leave Great Britain in the winter, and are then supposed to associate with others of the tringa genus, among which they are no longer recognised as the ruff and reeve. In the spring, as soon as they arrive again in England, and take up their abode in the fens where they were bred, each of the males (of which there appears to be a much greater number than of the females) immediately fixes upon a particular dry and grassy spot in the marsh, about which he runs round and round, until it is trodden bare; to this spot, it appears, he wishes to invite the female, and waits in expectation of her taking a joint possession, and becoming an inmate. As soon as a single female arrives, and is heard or observed by the males, her feeble cry seems as if it roused them all to war, for they instantly begin to fight, and their combats are described as being both desperate and of long continuance: at the end of the battle she becomes the prize of the victor. It is at the time of these battles that they are caught in the greatest numbers in the nets of the fowlers, who watch for that opportunity: they are also, at other times, caught by clap, or day-nets, and are drawn together by means of a stuffed reeve, or what is called a stale bird, which is placed in some suitable spot for that purpose.
The ruff is highly esteemed as a most delicious dish, and is sought after with great eagerness by the fowlers, who live by catching them and other fen birds for the markets of the metropolis, &c. Before they are offered for sale, they are commonly put up to feed for about a fortnight, and during that time fed with boiled wheat, and bread and milk mixed with hempseed, to which sugar is sometimes added: by this mode of treatment they become very fat, and are often sold as high as two shillings and sixpence each. They are cooked in the same manner as the woodcock.
The female, in the beginning of May, makes her nest in a dry tuft of grass in the fens, and lays four white eggs, marked with rusty spots.
These birds are common in the summer season in the fens of Denmark, Sweden, and Russia, and are also found in other more northern regions, even as far as Iceland.
The trade of catching ruffs is confined to a very few persons. They live in obscure places on the verge of the fens, and are found out with difficulty; for few, if any birds, are ever bought, but by those who make a trade of fatting them for the table; and they sedulously conceal the abode of the fowlers; so much so, that by no art could we obtain from any of them where they resided; and in order to deceive us, after evading our entreaties, they gave us instructions that led us quite a contrary direction. The reason of all this was obvious; for after much labour and search in the most obscure places, (for neither the innkeepers, nor other inhabitants of the towns, could give any information, and many did not know such a bird was peculiar to their fens,) we found out a very civil and intelligent fowler, who resided close to Spalding, at Fengate, by name William Burton (we feel a pleasure in recording his name, not only from his obliging nature, but for the use of others in similar pursuits); and, strange to say, that although this man had constantly sold ruffs to Mr. Towns, a noted feeder, hereafter more particularly noticed, as also to another feeder at Cowbit, by the name of Weeks, neither of those persons could be induced to inform us even of the name of this fowler. The reason, however, was evident, and justly remarked by Burton, for he obtained no more than ten shillings per dozen, whereas Weeks demanded thirty shillings for the like number he had the same day bought of Burton. The season was far advanced, and we were obliged to buy some at that price of Weeks, for Burton could not then catch us as many as were required.
At this time we were shown into a room where there were about seven dozen males and a dozen females, and of the former there were not two alike. This intrusion to choose our birds, drove them from their stands, and compelling some to trespass upon the premises of others, produced many battles.
By this feeder we learned, that two guineas a dozen was now the price for fattened ruffs; and he never remembered the price under thirty shillings, when fit for table.
Mr. Towns, the noted feeder at Spalding, assured us his family had been a hundred years in the trade, and boasted they had served George the Second, and many noble families in the kingdom. He undertook, at the desire of the late Marquess of Townsend, when that nobleman was Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, to take some ruffs to that country, and actually set off with twenty-seven dozen from Lincolnshire; left seven dozen at the Duke of Devonshire’s, at Chatsworth; continued his route across the kingdom, to Holyhead; and delivered seventeen dozen alive in Ireland; having lost only three dozen in so long a journey, confined and greatly crowded as they were in baskets, which were carried upon two horses.
The manner of taking these birds is somewhat different in the two seasons; in the spring, the ruffs hill, as it is termed; that is, they assemble upon a rising spot of ground, contiguous to where the reeves propose to deposit their eggs; there they take their stand, at a small distance from each other, and contend for the females; the nature of polygamous birds. This hill, or place of resort for love and battle, is sought for by the fowler, who, from habit, discovers it by the birds having trodden the turf somewhat bare, though not in a circle as usually described.
When a hill has been discovered, the fowler repairs to the spot before the break of day, spreads his net, places his decoy birds, and takes his stand at the distance of about one hundred and forty yards, or more, according to the shyness of the birds.
The net is what is termed a single clap-net, about seventeen feet in length, and six wide, with a pole at each end; this, by means of uprights fixed in the ground, and each furnished with a pulley, is easily pulled over the birds within reach, and rarely fails taking all within its grasp; but in order to give the pull the greatest velocity, the net is, (if circumstances will permit) placed so as to fold over with the wind: however there are some fowlers, who prefer pulling it against the wind for plovers. 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 who traverse the fens, and who have no adopted hill; these are caught singly, being enticed by the stuffed birds.
Burton, who was before mentioned, never used anything but stuffed skins, executed in a very rude manner; but some fowlers keep the first ruffs they catch for decoy birds; these have a string of about two feet long tied above the knee, and fastened down to the ground. The stuffed skins are sometimes so managed as to be moveable by means of a long string, so that a jerk represents a jump, (a motion very common amongst ruffs, who at the sight of a wanderer flying by, will leap or flirt a yard off the ground,) by that means inducing those on the wing to come and alight by him.
The stuffed birds are prepared by filling the skin with a wisp of straw tied together, the legs having been first cut off, and the skin afterwards sewed along the breast and belly, but with no great attention to cover the straw beneath: into this straw a stick is thrust, to fix it into the ground, and a peg is also thrust through the top of the head, and down the neck into the stuffing or straw body, and the wings are closed by the same process. Rough as this preparation is, and as unlike a living bird as skin and feathers can be made, it answers all the purpose.
When the reeves begin to lay, both those and the ruffs are least shy, and so easily caught, that a fowler assured us he could with certainty take every bird on the fen in the season. The females continue this boldness, and their temerity increases as they become broody; on the contrary, we found the males at that time could not be approached within the distance of musket shot, and consequently were far beyond the reach of small shot.
We were astonished to observe the property that these fowlers have acquired, of distinguishing so small an object as a ruff at such an immense distance, which, amongst a number of tufts or tumps, could not by us be distinguished from one of those inequalities; but their eyes had been in long practice of looking for the one object.
The autumnal catching is usually about Michaelmas, at which time few old males are taken, from which an opinion has been formed that they migrate before the females and young. It is, however, more probable, that the few which are left after the spring fowling, like other polygamous birds, keep in parties separate from the female and her brood till the return of spring. That some old ruffs are occasionally taken in the autumnal fowling we have the assertion of experienced fowlers, but we must admit that others declare none are taken at this season. It must, however, be recollected, that in the autumn the characteristic long feathers have been discharged, and consequently young and old males have equally their plain dress; but the person who assured us that old birds were sometimes taken at that season, declared it was easy to distinguish them from the young of that summer.
It does not appear to be the opinion of fowlers, that the males are more than one season arriving at maturity, because the ruffs taken in the spring, destitute of the characteristic long feathers, which constitute their principal distinction, are comparatively few to those possessing the ruff: the opinion, therefore, that those ruffless males are birds of a very late brood of the preceding season, is a reasonable conjecture.
The long feathers on the neck and sides of the head, in the male, that constitute the ruff and auricles, are of short duration, for they are scarcely completed in the month of May, and 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, chestnut, 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 we observed that those which had the ruff more or less white, retained that colour about the neck after the summer or autumnal moulting was effected.
The females, or reeves, begin laying their eggs the first or second week in May; and we have found their nests with young as early as the third of June. By this time the males cease to hill.
The nest is usually formed upon a tump in the most swampy places, surrounded by coarse grass, of which it is also formed.
The eggs are (as usual with its congeners) four in number; these are so nearly similar in colour to those of the snipe and redshank, 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 individuals assimilate so nearly to each other as not to be distinguished, especially as the dusky and brown spots and blotches are similar. The weight of the eggs is from five drachms twenty-five grains, to five drachms fifty grains.—Montagu.
Ruffe,s.A fish.
The ruffe somewhat resembles a perch, though the form is more slender, and the length rarely exceeds six inches; the teeth are very small, and disposed in rows; it is marked on the jaws with a double course of half circles; the upper part of the eye is of a dark-brown; the lower part somewhat yellow, and the globe of it black: the first rays of the dorsal fin (which is spotted with black) are like those of the perch, strong, sharp, and spiny; the others soft; the body is covered with rough compact scales; the back and sides are of a dirty green; the last, as well as the belly, inclining to yellow, but both spotted, with the tail marked with transverse bars of black. Their principal spawning-time is the beginning of April, but some are said to spawn again in October; and, in the Elements of Natural History, are said to deposit 75,000 ova. To the young angler the ruffe yields good sport; they associate in great numbers; their haunts are in recluse places, where the water is deep, and runs quietly, with a loamy or muddy bottom, and also in still water; the tackle should be fine, the hook No. 7, and a quill float; the bait (a small, well scoured red-worm) must just run on the ground, and either throw in some clay-balls, with worms, as directed in perch fishing, or if the water be clear, use common mud-balls to colour it; three rods may be easily managed, the baits touching the bottom; when there is a bite, strike directly, for they gorge so hastily, that the disgorger, or a knife, must frequently be used to get out the hook; by thus angling for them, six or eight dozen are often caught at a standing. Either in the spring or summer, with a brisk, warm wind, they will bite all day; and will sometimes in cold weather take the bait very freely. The ruffe, for the delicacy and richness of its flavour, as well as for its being considered very nourishing, is more admired than the perch. They are to be dressed in the same manner.—Daniel.
Ruffing,s.When the hawk strikes without trussing its prey.
Rum,s.A kind of spirit distilled from molasses.
Ruminate,v.To chew over again; to muse on, to meditate over and over again.
Runner,s.One that runs, a racer; a messenger; a shooting sprig; one of the stones of a mill; a bird.
Runt,s.Any small animal below the natural growth of the kind; a pigeon.
Rupture,s.The act of breaking, state of being broken; preternatural eruption of the gut.
Russet,a.Reddishly brown; Newton seems to use it for grey; rustic.
Russian Dog(Canis Russianus),s.
This dog is of a large size, being considerably superior, in point of strength, to the Newfoundland dog. He was originally produced by a cross between the Newfoundland and the Siberian, and has now assumed the characteristics of a distinct race: his head is large, with moderately long ears, and his tail bent over his back, like that of most of the boreal varieties; his hair is very long and curled, being from seven to nine inches in length; and in colour he varies from white with black patches, to pure white, and sometimes is entirely black. He has an expressive and intelligent countenance, and possesses all those qualities for which the Newfoundland dog is famous. In Russia this animal is employed for watching property, which he defends with all the assiduity of a mastiff or Newfoundland dog. He is sometimes also used in hunting the wolf and wild boar, for which he is admirably adapted, from his great strength, and from possessing considerable swiftness. His feet are semi-webbed, and he swims with great ease, and is accordingly often used in shooting aquatic birds, which he fetches out of the water when killed.
The dogs of Russia are not so quarrelsome amongst themselves as the British, probably owing to their never being encouraged to fight: and I am informed by a gentleman who resided twelve years in that country, that he never even heard of a dogfight there.—Brown.
Rust,s.The red incrustation of iron; the tarnished or corroded surface of any metal.
Rust,v.To gather rust; to have the surface tarnished or corroded.
Three ounces of black lead, half a pound of hog’s lard, one quarter of an ounce of camphor, boiled upon a slow fire; the gun-barrels to be rubbed with this, and, after three days, wiped off with a linen cloth: twice in a winter will keep off the rust, which the salt-water is otherwise sure to be continually bringing out from the iron.
To protect guns from rust in the humid climate I have been latterly accustomed to, I found nothing answer well but strong mercurial ointment. On the Western coast, oil, no matter how good in quality, is useless, but for cleaning. Those who are acquainted with the localities of that country know that turf is of trifling value. No limit is consequently placed upon its consumption; it is calculated only by the stack or the boat-full, and hence more fuel was wasted in my lodge, than would supply three moderate houses. Yet so penetrating is the damp from the ocean breeze, that the house-arms rusted above the fire-places, and the pistols I kept upon my table would spot if not frequently examined, and dry-rubbed with a flannel cloth.—Hawker—Wild Sports.
Rut,s.Copulation of deer; the track of a cart-wheel.
Rye,s.A coarse kind of bread corn.
Ryegrass,s.A kind of strong grass.