JANUARY 15 



of rifle green, bright chestnut, black and slate-colour, 

 on a groundwork of swan white, in general effect not 

 unlike the colour-scheme of the sheldrake. Those 

 anglers who credit salmon with a fastidious discrimina- 

 tion in colour set much store on the russet thigh 

 feathers of the male shoveller, which are held essential 

 to the right composition of the ' Britannia ' fly. The 

 female wears a modest garb, not differing greatly from 

 the mottled brown mantle of the female wild duck. 

 But in both sexes the effect is marred by the bill, 

 which is grotesquely long, broad, and depressed, sug- 

 gesting an organ of prodigious gluttony. Strange to 

 say, this lateral dilation of the bill takes place during 

 the growth of the young birds, which are hatched with 

 mandibles of the moderate proportions of other surface- 

 feeding ducks. The shoveller never goes in large 

 flights, but is seen either in pairs or in little bands of 

 less than a dozen. It is said to be more of a fresh- 

 water than a marine fowl ; and it is remarkable that, 

 although it is widely distributed over the northern 

 parts of both old and new worlds, Herr Gatke, in the 

 course of fifty years' experience, only once knew of its 

 occurrence in Heligoland. 



VI 



The scaup duck (Fuligula marila) is stated by all 

 authorities to be almost exclusively marine in its habits, 

 rarely visiting inland waters. Nevertheless, The Scaup 

 there is generally a pair or two on the White Duck 

 Loch in winter ; and I am inclined to think observers 



