220 
THE SHOVEL-BILL. 
and scarcely at all during the niglit. It seldom dives unless 
wounded, and then, as Wilson says, will sometimes come up 
and conceal itself under the bow of the boat, moving round 
as it moves. When frightened, the Pintails cluster together 
as they mount, and so afford the sportsmen an opportunity 
of raking them with advantage ; differing in this respect 
from many other Ducks, which disperse quickly on sucli 
occasions. The note of this bird is said to be soft and 
chattering; Mc^itagu compares it to the feeble sound uttered 
by a very young kitten ; Thompson says its ordinary call- 
note is a peculiar brief whistle.' 
The Pintail measures from twenty-six to twenty-eight 
inches in length ; it builds among weeds and rushes; the eggs, 
from five to seven in number, are of a greenish white colour. 
SHOVEL BILL. 
The Blue- winged Shovel -bill (Rhynchaspis chj- 
jyeata), sometimes called the Common, Blue-winged or 
Red-breasted Shoveller, or the Broad Bill. — We have here 
the single British representative of the restricted genus 
Rhynchaspis^ the birds belonging to which differ but little 
from the Teals, except in the expanded form of the bill, 
from which they obtain the name Shoveller. The bird 
above-named is a true Duck in its habits, frequenting the 
muddy shores of rivers or fresh- water lakes, sifting the 
thin mud through its broad, curiously-foi-med bill in search 
