152 Order VIII 



almost entirely vegetable, consisting of leaves, seeds of 

 aquatic plants, and so forth ; the note is harsh and 

 rattling. 



The male Shoveler (Spatula clypeata) is a pretty 

 bird of a general brown and white colour, with a green 

 head and neck, blue upper part of the wing, and 

 chestnut breast, the wing-bar being green. The bluish 

 bill is expanded like a spoon at the tip. The female 

 is almost brown. As a breeding species the Shoveler 

 has multiplied greatly of late years in Britain, and is 

 now found locally in summer even in the north of 

 Scotland. Its numbers increase in the cold season, 

 while in summer it ranges over the northern hemisphere 

 both in the Old and the New World, and reaches 

 northern Africa ; it is, in fact, one of the most widely 

 distributed members of the Family. It is a compara- 

 tively silent bird, in habits resembling our larger Wild 

 Duck, but it is apt to nest further from the water, while 

 the eggs are smaller and greener. 



The Pintail (Dafila acuta) is well named the Sea- 

 Pheasant, for its long slender neck and still more its 

 elongated central tail-feathers give it a superficial 

 resemblance to our familiar game-bird. In colour it 

 is mottled with grey on the back and flanks, and 

 prettily marked with fawn-colour, black, and white 

 on the wing, which has a metallic green bar edged 

 with buff. The under parts are white, and there is 

 a white stripe on each side of the bronzy neck. This 

 dainty little species, of which the female is varied with 

 lighter and darker brown above and is whitish below, 

 has of late begun to breed in a few parts of Scotland, 

 including the Shetland Islands; formerly it was a 

 regular but not very common visitor to the coast. 



