Photo by W. P. Dando, F.Z.S.] [Regent's Park.
DENHAM'S BUSTARD.
This species, when "showing off," fills the gullet with air, having no special air-sac like the great bustard.
Photo by W. F. Piggott] [Leighton Buzzard.
GREAT BUSTARDS.
The cock on the right is "showing off."
Formerly the ruff was a common bird in England, but the drainage of the fens and persecution have practically brought about its extermination.
At least two groups of plovers have succeeded in reversing the usual order of things in the matter of sexual plumage. These are the Phalaropes—which are British birds—and the Painted Snipe, in both of which the female is more brightly coloured and somewhat larger in size than the male. As is the case where this reversal occurs, the duties of incubation fall mainly or entirely upon the smaller and duller male. It is interesting to note, furthermore, that only in the phalaropes is there a seasonal change of plumage: in the painted snipe the same livery is worn all the year round.