SHOVELLER. 



ANAS CLYPEATA. 



Genus Anas. 



Blue-winged Shovellei' — Broad-bill. 



The Shoveller must be regarded as a winter visitor 

 to our shores, but several remain to breed, chiefly in 

 the eastern counties of England and the fen dis- 

 tricts. This bird frequents lakes and large pieces of 

 water in open country where there are no trees : it 

 prefers a locality near the sea, though it is a fresh 

 water species. Damp boggy tracts and marshy swamps 

 surrounded with reeds and covered with plenty of water 

 weeds are the places where we may expect to find the 

 Shoveller. 



They obtain their food either by taking it from the 

 mud in shallow places, where they may be often seen 

 swimming with only the tail uppermost exposed, or 

 from the water weeds, but they do not dive for it. 

 Their food consists of aquatic insects, tadpoles, the 

 spawn of frogs, small fish, and tender shoots. 



The flight of the Shoveller is somewhat slower and 



