CHAPTER LXXI 



THE SHOVELLER AND PINTAIL DUCKS 



A FEW pairs of " shovel-bills " are to be seen all the year 

 round in the Broad district, but never many. Rarely I have 

 seen three, four, and even six birds together, but as a rule 

 they hunt in pairs. 



The shovellers are shy birds. At a distance they look, 

 to the inexperienced, like mallard, but they are swifter on 

 the w^ing, and their necks longer and thinner. At the 

 flighting hour, on dark grey winter days, you see them fly 

 over a broad or down a river-course, looking as dull and 

 grey as the landscape ; for the cock does not get his elegant 

 plumage till the spring. One spring I watched a pair for 

 weeks — the old cock floating on the edge of a small broad — 

 for the cock, as a rule, swims against the stuff. When 

 flushed, the hen would invariably start off first, calling, and 

 followed by the handsome drake, both flying toward the 

 marshes by the sea. But they left the district before they 

 nested. Indeed, I have never seen a shoveller's nest in 

 Norfolk, though old Broadsmen tell me they have taken 

 their eggs. 



The Pintail. 



That capital table-bird, the pintail duck, is rare in the 

 Broadlands, but once seen you will never forget him. His 

 long neck and tail are conspicuous as he flies singly against 

 the low hne of the winter sky, but you will rarely see him ; 

 indeed, old gunners, who have followed the fowl night 



