THE DUCK 



bird nests, but not freely, in the British Islands. 

 Shot on fresh water, the pochard is a good duck for 

 the table. 



Food : animal and vegetable, including grass, 

 grain, seeds, and shell- fish. 



THE SHOVELLER (Anas clypeatd] 



So unerringly may one recognise the shoveller 

 by the curiously formed bill from which it takes its 

 name, that any description of the bird's beautiful and 

 many-hued plumage is unnecessary. This bill, about 

 3 inches in length, is widened at the extremity, the 

 lower mandible being shaped like a spoon. Shovel- 

 lers reach us later than most duck. The migrants 

 usually remain for only a brief time on the coast, 

 inland waters being their goal ; one may sometimes 

 see several of them on the saltings of the east coast 

 at the migration period, but the following day one's 

 glasses generally fail to reveal them. The length of 

 the shoveller is about 20 inches. The bird breeds 

 in many parts of the kingdom. Mr. William Hewlett, 

 the widely-known naturalist and sportsman, writes to 

 me, from Barton Mills : ' Shovellers often remain with 

 us all the year, and in the famous Tuddenham fen, a 

 great wild-duck resort, I have often found their nests.' 



