THE SHOVELER. "9 



when in flight. I have once heard it when a pair were flushed out of a pond in 

 the middle of the day." 



Their food is very varied. I have found the stomach of a young male 

 crammed with small seeds, like trefoil, and some small angular stones ; this was 

 in the autumn. They will eat the roots and leaves of water plants, various 

 small fish and aquatic insects, small frogs, tadpoles, crustaceans, mollusca, land 

 snails, worms ; nothing hardly comes amiss. The broad spoon-like bill is admirably 

 adapted for sifting fine mud and retaining any foreign substances. But neither in 

 this or any other Duck, as Macgillivray points out, do the lamellse of the two 

 mandibles fit into each other. It is impossible that they should, for those of the 

 lower are always more slender and more numerous than those of the upper, and 

 with a closed bill, pass within the upper, and without intermingling. 



A local name is " Spoonbill," the real Spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia, LINN) 

 having ceased to exist in England. It is a Duck of ancient lineage, the Norfolk 

 forest-bed having produced a single coracoid bone. 



The flesh of the Shoveler is much praised and extolled by some, and as 

 strongly condemned by others ; of course all depends on the sort of food which 

 has been consumed for some weeks previously. I do not consider that for the 

 table it can be compared to a Mallard, Wigeon, Teal, or Pochard, the flesh 

 being soft with a muddy flavour, I confess, however, to be in a minority in this 

 matter ; Sir R. Payne-Gallwey, no mean authority, considers these Ducks in point 

 of edible excellence, come second when shot on fresh water ; he has seen fat an inch 

 thick on a Shoveler. He places the Pintail first for delicacy of flavour. 



The nest is placed sometimes in a dry and as often in a wet situation, both 

 near and occasionally some distance from water. I have found it in long heather, 

 and it is alwa}'S well-sheltered and concealed, constructed of dry grasses and 

 bents, the eggs being buried in the down of the bird ; there are ten to fifteen, of 

 a greenish-buff colour. The male bird occasionally assists in incubation, at least 

 it has been seen to rise from the eggs. 



The Shoveler is a late nester. In the young, in down, the sides of the bill 

 are straight, and not spatulate, as in the adult. On the wing it moves rapidly, 

 and usually at no great height, and may readily be distinguished by its square- 

 ended and heavy looking bill, as compared with the size of the head, the former 

 organ looking as if it was thrust into an empty cartridge case. When wounded 

 this Duck is a poor diver. 



The feet, when compared with other Ducks, are very small. Mr. T. Whitaker, 

 of Rainworth Lodge, Notts., who has had most favourable opportunities of observing" 

 the habits of this Duck, says that " in flying the feet are held quite an inch 



