378 THE GAME BIEDS AND WILD FOWL 



quickly. It swims fairly well, but rarely dives, and only when wounded. From the 

 nature of the locality in which most of its food is obtained, the very shallow water, 

 the Shoveler rarely turns upside down to feed ; it has no need to do so. The Shoveler 

 very often associates with other Ducks, but owing to its partiality for small muddy 

 pools it is most frequently seen by itself. The flight of this species when once 

 the bird is fairly launched is rapid and powerful, but it rises heavily and slowly 

 from the water. The food of the Shoveler consists of grass, grain, shoots, buds, 

 leaves, and roots of aquatic herbage, insects of all kinds and their larvae, mollusks, 

 frogs, small fish, in fact anything and everything edible. As Hume justly 

 remarks, in some localities it would be difficult to say what this bird will iiot eat. 

 Much of its food is obtained in the shallow water as it moves its broad spatulated 

 bill from side to side, sifting every likely and unlikely bit of mud. It is both a 

 day and night feeder, but obtains most of its food after dusk, leaving in many 

 cases the haunts it has frequented during the day and flying for some considerable 

 distance to places where its staple fare is abundant. The call-note of the Shoveler 

 is a harsh quack ; a lower guttural note is uttered during flight. It is a remark- 

 ably silent bird, always apparently too intent on feeding to talk. Its flesh is of 

 very variable quality, depending a good deal upon the diet of the bird. 



Nidification. — The Shoveler is a rather late breeder, and even in our 

 Islands its eggs are not laid until the middle of May or later, whilst in more 

 northern latitudes they are not laid before June or even early in July. The 

 breeding grounds of the Shoveler are situated amongst lakes and swamps where 

 plenty of aquatic vegetation grows on the banks, and where shallow water or 

 sluggish streams choked with weed furnish plenty of feeding places. The nest is 

 generally made on a bit of dry ground amongst the tall grass and sedge or heath, 

 and is simply a hollow into which a little dead grass, sedge, and a few dead leaves 

 are collected, and warmly lined with down and feathers plucked from the female. 

 The eggs are from seven to fourteen in number, nine or ten being an average 

 clutch. They vary from pale buffish-white to very pale olive-green, fine in 

 texture, and with some little gloss. They measure on an average 2'0 inches in 

 length by 1'5 inch in breadth. The down tufts are moderate in size, neutral dark 

 grey with large pale centres and very conspicuous white tips. Incubation, almost 

 invariably performed by the female, lasts, according to Naumann, twenty-one to 

 twenty-three days, but Tiedemann gives twenty-eight days as the period. The 

 male Shoveler has been found sitting on the eggs in at least one well-authenticated 

 instance. The young are usually able to fly a month after they are hatched, but 

 until then they are assiduously tended by the female. One brood only is reared 

 in the year, but, as is often the case, if the first eggs be taken others are laid. 



Diagnostic characters.— Spatula, with the head and upper portion of 

 the neck rich glossy green. Length, 20 inches. 



