On 4 September 1971 we discovered a Ruff, Philomachus pugnax, at Crockett’s Lake, near the Keystone ferry landing on Whidbey Island, Washington. The bird was associating with a Dunlin Erolia alpina in fading breeding plumage. Both were part of a large mixed-species assemblage of shorebirds that were feeding on the mud flats that border this tidal lagoon. The Ruff remained at Crockett’s Lake until at least 19 September, during which time it was studied carefully by many other observers, including Dennis R. Paulson, Edmund T. Stiles, and Terence R. Wahl. The following description is adapted from notes taken at the time of our initial observation.