494 ANATID^. 



to the south, in winter, having been observed on both 

 shores of the Mediterranean, and in some of the warm, 

 parts of India. The extensive drainage of our fens and 

 marshes has made it less frequent in England than it 

 formerly was; but in Holland and other continental 

 countries it is abundant. The nest, usually placed in a 

 tuft of grass, is made of dry grass mixed with down 

 which the female plucks from her own body, and contains 

 eight or nine eggs. 



The Shoveller is not sufficiently common in this country 

 to claim any importance as an article of food, but its flesh 

 is said to be superior in flavour even to that of the famous 

 CauA^ass-backed Duck of America. 



The male annually undergoes a moult, or change of 

 feathers, similar to that described below as taking place 

 in the Mallard. 



THE GAD WALL. 



ANAS STR]^PERA. 



Head and neck light grey, speckled with brown ; back and breast dark grey, 

 the feathers ending in crescent-shaped whitish lines ; belly white, speckled 

 with brown ; small wing-coverts and tip of the wing chestnut ; greater 

 coverts, rump, and tail-coverts black ; speculum white ; bill black ; irides 

 brown ; feet orange. Female less distinctly marked. Length twenty inches. 

 Eggs buffy white, tinged with green. 



This species of Duck has no claim to be considered in- 

 digenous to Great Britain, being rarely seen except in 

 autumn and spring, when on its way to and from warmer 

 latitudes. With us it is a bird of occasional but not 

 common occurrence, but in Holland it is often abundant, 

 especially in autumn. Its food and habits closely re- 

 semble those of the other Ducks ; it is active, and both 

 swims and flies rapidly, prefening fresh-water lakes to 

 the sea, and resorting principally to such pieces of water 

 as aiford it ready concealment. Meyer states that when 

 flocks of Gad walls "fly about, they keep close together in a 



