BIRDS 275 



by his inferior bulk and faster and short wing-strokes. Round 

 and round the fowl careered, sometimes in a V, their figures 

 often changing, until at last the Shoveller wearied of the 

 exercise and desired to descend. Down it came in a beautiful 

 curve, shooting through the air on expanded wings, now elevat- 

 ing one shoulder and now the other, the better to preserve its 

 balance. But it could not somehow quite make up its mind to 

 alight, so gave a few sharp strokes and rose rapidly ; this was 

 repeated many times, the bird gliding gracefully round the 

 western corner of the lough, giving a few quick wing-strokes, 

 and thus rising, to descend again in the same way as before. 

 Round and round it glided, a perfect embodiment of beauty. 

 After watching it thus sailing through the air for many minutes, 

 at last I had the satisfaction of seeing it alight on the water at 

 the edge of the bank of sedge, where I left it swimming into 

 cover. When visiting the same lough on the 23d of November 

 1889, we disturbed a party of nine Shovellers, which rose out 

 of the sedge and went aloft, where they circled round with 

 many a graceful turn, flying at first in a V formation, which 

 soon altered to a string ; the males wore the plumage of change, 

 having many white feathers on their breasts. Shovellers do 

 not fly in very close line ; each bird seems to choose its own 

 course, and when the nine just mentioned descended, they did 

 not alight together, but one dropped here and another over 

 yonder, a pair alighted somewhere else, so that they were fairly 

 scattered over the surface of the lough. Soon they settled down 

 to feed, swimming a few strokes and then half submerging the 

 body, stern thrown up, and the balance preserved by the slightly 

 extended wings. When a Shoveller is only resting on the 

 water, the breast is depressed and the stern and back are com- 

 paratively high, the neck moderately erect. When the bird 

 feeds, the wings are brought well forward. The Shoveller has 

 only a very small body, and looks larger than is really the case. 

 The broad bill can almost always be seen in flight, besides 

 which they fly higher and more buoyantly than Mallard ; they 

 have a knack of rising wild, which serves them in useful stay. 

 Shovellers usually remain with us until the first spin of frost 

 warns them to seek a more temperate climate ; it is only in a 



