178 THE BIRDS OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



situation as those of the other true Ducks, and com- 

 posed of materials of the same character ; the eggs 

 average from ten to twelve, or thirteen in number. 

 I do not find it easy to keep this species in captivity 

 at Lilford through the winter ; for some reason as 

 yet unknown to us hard corn and meal do not seem 

 to suit the birds, or indeed to present any great 

 attraction to them. In the summer they seldom 

 come to be fed -with the other 'fowl,' and appear 

 to find abundant sustenance not only on the surface 

 of the water and its banks, but also about the inter- 

 stices of the masonry of an old stone causeway that 

 divides my pond ; from this it would appear that 

 small insects and molluscs form the favourite diet of 

 the Shoveller ; but it is nevertheless, in my opinion, 

 an excellent bird for the table. 



Since the above article was written, many occur- 

 rences, and three captures, of this species in the 

 neighbourhood of Lilford have come to my know- 

 ledge ; all of these have been recorded by me in the 

 ' Zoologist.' 



185. PINTAIL. 



Anas acuta. 



Morton, in his list of the wild-fowl occasionally 

 taken on Sir John Shaw's decoy, mentions : — " The 

 Sea Pheasant (Willughby, Ornith. p. 376), which is 

 the Pintail of our Decoymen, and by the Poulterers 

 of London is sometimes called the Easterling ; which 

 feeds as much or more in Fresh Water, as in Salt, 

 so is improperly call'd the Sea Pheasant." In this 

 special connection I may mention that in an inter- 

 view with the present lessees of this decoy in 1889, 



