The Shoveller 

 THE SHOVELLER 



Spatula clypeata (Linnaeus) 



This bird is by no means rare with us in winter, when 

 large numbers come over from abroad. It is essentially 

 an inland species, preferring small and sheltered pieces of 

 water rather than wide open stretches. Its most character- 

 istic feature is the large flattened bill with which it feeds 

 on the surface-swimming animalcule and other insects, the 

 broad lamellae of the mandibles forming an efficient strainer. 

 When feeding three or four will often follow each other in 

 a circle, each feeding in the other's wake. Of late years it 

 has become more numerous as a breeding bird, and it now 

 nests commonly in the Broads and other districts of Norfolk 

 and the eastern counties. In Kent and the Midlands, 

 Yorkshire and the North, it nests sparingly, as well as in 

 some of the southern and eastern counties of Scotland. In 

 Ireland it is a local but by no means scarce species. 

 Except in the breeding season it is a very silent bird ; when 

 courting it moves its head up and down, uttering a low 

 " took, took," which is answered by the female. The nest 

 is generally placed at some distance from the water in the 

 middle of a dry grass -field, where there is hardly any 

 cover beyond a small patch of grass more luxuriant than 

 the rest. 



The eggs, which number from eight to ten, are pale 

 greenish buff in colour. The female sits very closely, and 

 the male remains in attendance at no great distance and 



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