COMMON SHOVELEil. 11 / 



and of America, frequenting the marshes, lakes, and 

 rivers, and occasionally visiting the sea-coasts ; in 

 which situation k is perpetually searching for small 

 worms and the larvae of insects, sifting, with great 

 address, the watery mud through the long and finely 

 set teeth of its curious beak, which is admirably con- 

 structed for the purpose ; being large, and capable of 

 retaining very minute worms, seeds, or insects, which 

 constitute the principal food of the bird. The female 

 is said to make her nest on the ground, with withered 

 grass, in the most inaccessible part of the marsh, and 

 to lay ten or twelve rust-coloured eggs : the young, 

 as soon as hatched, are conducted to the water by 

 the parent birds : at first they are very shapeless and 

 ugly, as the beak is then as broad as the body, and 

 is quite out of proportion to the size of the bird : 

 their plumage does not acquire its full colours until 

 after the second moult. 



This beautiful species is sometimes met with in 

 England, but by no means common : they do riot, 

 however, breed in this country, so far as is yet ascer- 

 tained ; but are said to be not unfrequent in France, 

 where they arrive in February, and disperse and breed 

 in the marshes. They are of so wild, shy, and solitary 

 a disposition, that all attempts hitherto made to do- 

 mesticate them have failed. 



