ANATID.^. 



415 



THE SHOVELER. 

 Spatula clypeata (Linnaeus). 



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

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

 tolerable number remain to breed with us, though seldom in our 

 southern and western counties, where localities suited to their 

 habits, combined with due protection, are few. In some parts of 

 Norfolk and Lincolnshire it nests regularly, and it does so, sparingly, 

 in Yorkshire, ])urham, and Northumberland; while near Rainworth 

 in Nottinghamshire it is decidedly increasing. In Wales, and on 

 the west side of England, it is rarer ; though probably a few pairs 

 inhabit the marshes on the Cumberland side of the Solway, inas- 

 much as the bird is known to nest in Kircudbrightshire, and some 

 of the other southern counties in Scotland. Col. Irby has 

 recently informed me that it breeds on Tiree in the Hebrides ; but 

 it is almost unknown in the Outer islands or in the Orkneys, though 

 found in summer on the mainland near Elgin, and in other localities 

 as far north as Sutherlandshire. In Ireland it is not uncommon in 

 the south, and nests at Abbeyleix in Queen's Co., Eough Derg 

 on the Shannon (not the smaller lake of that name in Donegal), 

 Lough Portmore in co. Antrim, co. Dublin, and a few other 

 localities. 



In summer the Shoveler barely goes as far north as the Arctic 



