182 EGYPTIAN BIRDS 



and dealt with, and the greater the consequent 

 food-supply for the duck. 



It is a really handsome bird in colour, the 

 peculiar mass of light lilac blue -grey feathers of 

 the wing contrasting vividly with the chestnut of 

 the sides. Indeed, I do not know any duck that 

 is superior to it in its vividly contrasting colora- 

 tion. Although it is in form clumsy-looking, it is 

 anything but clumsy or slow in getting up and on 

 the wing, and I own to having been beaten often 

 at pools similar to those described in reference to 

 the Pintail, by the quickness and pace of its flight. 

 The last visit I paid to the Cairo Zoological Gardens 

 in March 1909, the ornamental waters there were 

 crowded with duck, nearly all Shovellers. All had 

 come in of their own accord, flew freely, and would, 

 so Mr. NicoU informed me, shortly all be up and 

 away till another season came round. And in the 

 most interesting report of the Wild Birds of the 

 Giza Gai'dens just published, figures are given. 

 *' A few Shovellers arrive, in some years, as early 

 as August, and they become more and more 

 numerous during the autumn and winter. Some 

 leave here in March, but the majority do so in 

 April." "Up to 1902 twenty was the largest 

 number of Shovellers seen, at one time, on our lake. 



