OBSERVATIONS.--It feeds on all sorts of insects, small snails, worms, and even plants. The young ones are easily tamed. They are first fed on ants' eggs, and then gradually accustomed to bread, and even bran mixed with milk. The eggs may be placed under pigeons, but care is necessary when they are hatched, as they run the moment they leave the shell. The old birds may be kept in the garden if the wings are clipped, where they destroy the insects and worms; but they must be brought into the house in the winter, and fed at first on bullocks' heart cut in the form of worms, then with less care, till by degrees they become accustomed to other meat, and even to bread. As these birds are much esteemed game, snares are laid for them in places they frequent in large flocks. They are either taken in nets, throwing worms as baits, or with nooses made of horse hair, and set in the paths they trace in the rushes, or, which is cruel and destructive, in the neighbourhood of their nests. THE RUFF. 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. THE PURR.