Ducks and Pochards which sat upon the ice where swans had 

 kept the water open, till you advanced within fifteen yards of 

 them, before they would rise ; some of them, even at that distance, 

 not withdrawing their beaks from under their back feathers, and 

 when put up, merely flying round a few times and settling again. 



The appearance of the Shoveller and Gadwall with perfect 

 wings is much more curious. The former seems to be a shy 

 bird, almost constantly frequenting shallow, still, fresh watery 

 places, where there are sedges and reeds; it appears to be a 

 delicate bird, and looks unhappy in confinement, particularly in 

 winter. It does not appear to come to its breeding places till all 

 chance of frost is gone, or whilst there is danger of its being pre- 

 vented thereby from getting food. It is an insect feeder, and 

 often swins about in circles as if to make eddies, and apparently 

 sifting the insects out of the water with its singular beak, keeping 

 its head low whilst thus engaged. The latter part of the month 

 of March appears to be the time for its arriving. I have seen a 

 dozen together by the first week in April. They then fly about 

 a good deal, and appear to be pairing, two or three drakes some- 

 times singling out one duck and chasing her, and making a sing- 

 ular noise. By the 20th they seem to be paired, and they have 

 eggs early in May. Though the Shoveller is occasionally met 

 with during winter, it should be considered a summer visitor, and 

 no doubt was very much commoner in England before the places 

 suitable for its accommodation were drained. By the time the 

 young are hatched the weeds, amongst which they keep, have 

 become so rank that is scarcely possible to see them ; but it seems 

 evident that the birds suddenly take their departure soon after 

 they can fly well, as few indeed are to be met with between 

 breeding time and November, when a chance bird sometimes 

 turns up, and though the young apparently get away, no greater 

 number of old birds return the following year, probably on 

 account of the now limited ground suitable for them. 



The Gadwall, in the north of England, is a very rare bird, and 

 probably never was anything else ; and had it not been for the 

 quantity of wildfowl sent, within the last thirty years, from the 



