D U 



continent. This, however, does not establish any 

 difference in the birds themselves, but may readily be 

 Accounted for in the difference of the two countries. 

 The American, summer is more dry than the 

 European, and the American marshes, in the middle 

 latitudes, partake of this drought, or, if they do not, they 

 are covered with junipers and other evergreens, so 

 that they do not answer well for the summer resort of 

 dabbling birds. The northern latitudes of America, 

 again, are remarkably well adapted, on account of 

 their flatness, the abundance of water, the high 

 temperature, and the correspondingly great produc- 

 tion of small animals. Yet, in respect of latitude, 

 the climates to which the shoveller moves northward, 

 during the American summer, are not more northerly 

 than those in which it breeds in central Europe, 

 although, from the different character of the seasons, 

 it ranges more in the one country than in the other. 

 In all countries where it is known, this bird forms its 

 nest in the tallest and thickest tufts of rushes and 

 other aquatic herbage, and, generally, also in places 

 which are not accessible by man, or, indeed, by any 

 of the land mammalia. The nest is rudely formed of 

 withered grass, collected in considerable quantity, 

 and the female is a close sitter. The eggs are about 

 ten or twelve in number, of a pale rust colour, and the 

 young are led to the water by their parent as soon as 

 they appear. At this stage they are rather uncouth, 

 from the great development of the bill in proportion 

 to that of the body. It is always worth while to 

 notice the order in which the organisation of an 

 animal is developed, or it comes to maturity, because 

 this is one of the best guides to the habits of the 

 animal. The young shovellers have to find their 

 food in the water, and therefore they have the feet 

 and the bill in a tolerably complete state when they 

 come out of the shell, whereas the organs of flight 

 are then in a rudimental state ; and they continue 

 so much longer than they do in birds which are 

 obliged to make use of the wing at an early stage of 

 their existence. This slow production of the organs 

 of flying, is general among birds which seek their 

 food upon the ground, whether in the shallow waters, 

 the marshes, the fields, or the uplands ; but all of 

 them are better provided for the use of their feet, and 

 also of their bills, than birds of more early flight. 

 Thus we see how well these creatures are adapted to 

 the particular places in which they reside, and to 

 which they are, of course, drawn by this very adapta- 

 tion. The shoveller is thus described : the bill is 

 of a brownish black colour, three inches in length, 

 greatly widened near the extremity, closely pectinated 

 on the sides, and furnished with a nail on the tip of 

 each mandible ; irides, bright orange ; tongue large 

 and fleshy ; the inside of the upper and outside of 

 the lower mandible are grooved so as to receive dis- 

 tinctly the long separated reed-like teeth ; there is 

 also a gibbosity in the two mandibles which do not 

 meet at the sides, and this vacuity is occupied by 

 other appendages ; head and upper half of the neck, 

 glossy, changeable green; rest of the neck and 

 breast white passing round and nearly meeting above ; 

 whole belly dark reddish chestnut; flanks, a brownish 

 yellow, pencilled transversely with black, between 

 which and the vent, which is black, is a band of white ; 

 back blackish brown ; exterior edges of the scapulars, 

 white ; lesser wing coverts and some of the tertials a 

 fine light sky blue ; beauty spot on the wing, a change- 

 able resplendent bronze green, bordered above by a 

 NAT. HIST. VOL. II. 



C K. 337 



band of white, and below with another of velvety 

 black ; rest of the wing, dusky, some of the tertials 

 streaked down their middles with white ; legs and 

 feet, reddish orange. The female has the crown of 

 the head of a dusky brown colour, and the rest of 

 the head yellowish white, thickly spotted with dark 

 brown, the spots on the breast being larger and cres- 

 cent-shaped. The back and scapulars are dark brown 

 with orange shafts and margins to the feathers. The 

 under part is white with a slight reddish tinge. The 

 wings differ little from those of the male bird, and, 

 indeed, in all kinds of ducks, it is in the wings that 

 the two sexes correspond the most with each other. 



THE GADWALL (Chauliodus strepcra). The gadwall 

 is still smaller than the shoveller ; like that, it is an 

 inhabitant of marshy situations in both continents 

 during the summer or breeding season ; and it is pro- 

 bable that, in Europe, these birds follow the line of 

 the central marshes rather than that of the meridian. 

 They seldom reach the shores of Britain, and when 

 they do it is only to the places that are most con- 

 tiguous to the marshy countries on the east side of 

 the North Sea. They are, probably, less seen in pro- 

 portion to their numbers than almost any other species 

 of duck, as their habits are very retired, and it is 

 rarely, indeed, that they come out except during the 

 night. In America, though the birds are not very 

 rare, they have precisely the same habits ; and as ft 

 is no easy matter to range the American marshes, the 

 breeding plaras in that continent are not known. 

 The male bird is thus described length about nine- 

 teen inches, breadth about thirty-three, bill two inches, 

 flat, and of a black colour ; markings of the plumage 

 exceedingly minute, giving it a sort of appearance as 

 if it were marked with delicate stripes, and enclosed 

 in a net-work. The ground colour of the head and 

 neck is grey, marked with brown points ; but the lower 

 part of the neck, the back, and the breast marked 

 with small black crescents ; the scapulars and flanks 

 pencilled with zigzag lines of black and white. Lesser 

 coverts of the wings chestnut ; greater coverts, rump, 

 and tail coverts, black. Primary quills of the wings 

 dusky, tail reddish, but white at the tip, which is very 

 much pointed ; under part white, and the wing-spot 

 white, with a red margin on the one side, and a chest- 

 nut-coloured one on the other. The female differs in 

 having the wing-covert duller, more brown on the 

 neck and back, and wanting the crescent spots on 

 the fore part, and the fine pencillings on the flanks 

 and scapulars ; she is also rather smaller in size than 

 the male. The nest is always constructed in a place of 

 great concealment, such as a thick tuft, a close bush, and 

 sometimes the hollow of a tree ; and the birds glide so 

 softly, and at the same time so swiftly through the herb- 

 age, that they may be close at hand without the least 

 chance of noticing them. These birds are not quite 

 so prolific as some of the others, the eggs in a hatch 

 being- about eight or ten in number, of a greenish 

 ash-colour. The flesh of the bird is held in much 

 estimation. This duck, though it has not the web 

 on the hinder toe, is a very expert diver ; and 

 for this reason it cannot be shot while swimming 

 without the greatest difficulty ; it is very watchful, 

 and as it plunges the instant "it sees the flash, it can 

 scarcely be hit by the best directed shot. 



TEAL (Qucrqucdulci). There are several species to 

 which this name is applied in common, and they are 

 remarkable for the beauty of their colours, and also 

 for the superior flavour of their flesh ; and it is probable 



