144 THE SHOVELLER. 
of each other. And even on these they are still amongst the 
tamest of all our Ducks, (the Common Teal is almost as tame,) 
and when after a tremendous fusilade every other Wild Fowl] has 
temporarily quitted the lake, you will still, as you prowl round 
the shores to clear up the Snipe, continually find Shovellers 
rising before you from the weedy shallows well within shot. 
To the shores they stick ; into the open water they never seem 
to straggle by choice, and if you watch them they are for the 
most part either dozing on the brink or paddling slowly in the 
shallows, with their entire bills and more or less of heads and 
necks under water, their heads working from side to side all 
the while like a Flamingo’s or a Spoonbill’s. 
They rise heavily and slowly, but when once on the wing 
attain considerable speed, and as Mr. Reid remarks, “it is not 
an uncommon occurrence to see an old Drake Shoveller leading 
a flock of Teal across country at a rattling pace.” 
They walk much like Gadwall, but with the bodies more erect 
and less horizontal. They waddle of course, but can neverthe- 
less run for a few paces when some moving delicacy attracts their 
notice on the shore, more quickly and easily than their habitual- 
ly sluggish movements would indicate. 
They are, to judge from wounded birds that I have pursued, 
slow swimmers and poor divers. I never saw one diving when 
unmolested, nor have I ever noticed them feeding upside-down, 
with only their stern-halves above water, in the way Gadwall, 
Mallard, and others are so fond of seeking their food. 
“On the whole” (to quote my own remarks made many years 
ago), “though they abound everywhere, and are very easy to get 
at, they afford no sport, and are not worth eating ; and though 
the Drake, but for his great, clumsy bill, would be handsome, we 
must, I fear, put them down, all things considered, in the ‘cheap 
and nasty’ category.” 
So FAR as is yet known this species does not breed within our 
limits, but I should not be surprised if a few pairs should still 
prove to nest in one of the Kashmir Lakes. I have known one 
to be shot, late in May, on the Woollar Lake, and Leith Adams 
says it is common all the year in Kashmir. In Europe it 
generally makes its nest by the side ofsome piece of fresh water, 
or in some adjoining marsh carefully concealed by aquatic 
herbage, or some overhanging bush. But in Denmark, at any 
rate, it also sometimes nests on the coast. 
The laying season extends in different localities from the 
beginning of May to quite the close of July. The nest is a 
shallow depression in the soil made by the birds, and thinly or 
thickly lined with dry grass and down. The eggs vary from 
7 to 14 in number ; and are somewhat elongated ovals as a rule, 
a good deal pointed towards the small end. 
