THE SHOVELLER. 203 



SPECIES 195 THE SHOVELLER. 



Anas clypeata. Linn. 

 Canard souchet. Temm. 

 Shovel-bill. Shelldrake. 



THIS interesting species is of rather unusual occurrence, and 

 is more often obtained in the dull, unobtrusive plumage of 

 the young, than with the rich and varied markings of the 

 adult male. 



Seldom observed upon the sea, the shoveller is an inland 

 species, and frequents the rivers and lakes of the country, 

 from which localities the individuals exposed for sale in the 

 markets of the city are, in most instances, obtained, being 

 captured by decoys. 



The shoveller attracts the attention of the ornithologist 

 and every admirer of the scientific economy of nature, by 

 the beautiful natural mechanical arrangement, or laminated 

 process of the curiously shaped bill, each mandible furnished 

 with a comb-like edge, fitting into each other in the most 

 perfect manner, and used when feeding as u strainers" to se- 

 parate the mud from whatever food it may contain. 



Remaining in some instances after the great majority of its 

 family have regained their native wilds, we have observed its 

 occurrence very late in the season ; and from having at one 

 time obtained an adult female in the month of August, we 

 noticed the probability of its nidifying in our island to Mr. 

 Thompson, in which that eminent naturalist coincided at the 

 time. Since that period we find notes of the occurrence of a 

 beautiful adult male, shot in rushy pasture grounds near the 

 Bog of Allen, and also two immature plumaged birds, of- 

 fered for sale on the 2nd of September, 1852, by a hawker, 

 who remarked their unusual occurrence, and their appearance 

 to resemble young birds bred in the country. 



The flesh of our shoveller is extremely delicate, and we can 

 fully appreciate the American sporting proverb, that " no 

 one should pass a shoveller to shoot a canvass back ;" so much 

 so that we appropriate to this species the praise bestowed by 

 Mundius on the teal : " That it was sweet in the mouth, light 

 in the stomach, and withal very nourishing." 



Few subjects are of more interest to the ornithologist than 

 the occurrence of species in their relative numbers in diffe- 

 rent countries, as we find instanced in the present species 

 occurring more plentifully in Ireland than in England, whilst 

 in Scotland it has never been obtained. Strange, that in the 



