ANATID.t. 



427 





THE SHOVELER. 

 Spatula clypeata (Linnceus). 



This species — sometimes called the " Spoon-bill " or " Broad- 

 bill " — is chiefly a visitor to this country during cold weather ; but 

 since the Act for the Preservation of Wild Fowl was passed in 1876 

 increasing numbers have remained to breed with us, though less 

 frequently in our southern and western counties, where localities 

 suited to their habits are few. It nests regularly in some parts of 

 Norfolk and Lincolnshire, and sparingly in Yorkshire, Durham and 

 Northumberland ; while in Nottinghamshire and some parts of the 

 Midlands it is becoming more abundant ; and, though rarer in Wales, 

 and on the west side of England, a few pairs inhabit the marshes 

 on the Cumberland side of the Solway. In Scotland it nests in 

 Kirkcudbrightshire, Roxburgh, and some other southern counties, but 

 its principal breeding-haunts are between the Forth and Tay, while 

 nests have been found up to Sutherland and the Orkneys, as well 

 as on Tiree in the Inner Hebrides, though the bird is almost 

 unknown in the Outer islands (W. Evans). In Ireland it is not 

 uncommon in the south, and nests freely in Queen's Co., Lough 

 Derg on the Shannon, Lough Portmore in co. Antrim, in co. 

 Dublin, and other localities. 



In summer the Shoveler seldom goes further north than the Arctic 

 circle, but from Denmark, the Baltic, and even Archangel south- 



