144 BIRDS OF NORFOLK, 



occasionally so near that I could see his eye, disappeared 

 altogether." From this, and the fact of my finding 

 cock shovelers, both on Stanford and Thompson, when 

 the nestlings were hatched, it seems that though the 

 males, like the common mallard, may keep apart whilst 

 the hens are sitting, still the care of the young brood is 

 shared between them. Mr. Southwell, also, identified 

 shovelers amongst other fowl on Langmere,^ which was 

 almost dried up, and believes that he also saw this 

 species on the meres near the hall. 



At no great distance from the above named haunts, 

 Mr. Beverley Leeds informs me that shovelers breed 

 annually at West Tofts, on Mrs. Lyne-Stephens' 

 estate, upon a small patch of common land of not 

 more than an acre in extent, where the cows graze 

 quite up to their nests. The chief attraction for 

 them in such a spot is, he supposes, the abundance 

 of water snails, of which they are very fond. He has 

 shot them in September, and found scarcely any other 

 food in their stomachs. f The male birds, he believes, 

 whilst the females are sitting, resort during the day 

 to the mere at Stanford ; and it is probable that 

 birds of this species, which Mr. H. M. Upcher tells me 

 may be seen, during the summer, on the river near 

 Didlington, are either stragglers from Stanford and 

 Tofts, or have found a home for themselves in that 



* On the 15th of April, 1876, Mr. Southwell flushed eight drake 

 shovelers on Langniere, the waters of which were unusually ex- 

 tended. The females were, no doubt, not far off, but he saw no 

 shovelers on Foulmere. 



f Hunt states that those he examined had their stomachs gen- 

 erally full of periwinkles which shows that marine and fresh water 

 mollusca, of some size, form a chief part of their diet, which is 

 usually stated by authors to consist of worms, insects, and the seeds 

 of grasses. Audubon, describes them, in the United States, as con- 

 suming, besides vegetable matter, leeches, small fish, large gromid 

 worms and snails. 



