The Shoveler 59 
and breadth of Scotland. Now the Shoveler nests annually in the counties 
of Kirkcudbright, Roxburgh, Midlothian, Fife, Perth, Kinross, Aberdeen, 
Elgin, and Inverness. It is rare in Sutherland and Rosshire, but has bred 
in the former county. In the Outer Hebrides it is rare, but it occurs regularly 
in autumn in the Island of Tiree and has undoubtedly bred there. In the 
Orkneys also it is rare, though it occurs regularly in Sanday, and I have seen 
freshly killed specimens from there, while in Shetland the species seems to be 
unknown. 
In Ireland the Shoveler is most common in the winter months, but it 
is also a resident, and, as elsewhere in Britain, a steadily increasing species. 
Fifty years ago Thompson regarded it as so much of a rarity that he relates, as 
remarkable occurrences, instances of its capture ; but to-day it is found in every 
district, whilst Messrs. Ussher and Warren state that it breeds in half the 
counties. According to these authors, it is most common in the great central 
plain of Ireland ; but I have seen it several times in Cork, and it frequents the 
decoy at Longueville in considerable numbers. It is interesting to note that 
Messrs. Ussher and Warren regard the increase of the Shoveler as beginning 
in 1889, nine years later than Scotland. 
Like the Teal, the Shoveler is essentially a fresh-water and bog-loving 
species, spending two-thirds of its time in the swamps and marshes, and only 
occasionally flying to the open water in small flocks of from five to twenty, 
to rest or paddle about in search of insects. In winter and early spring they 
are often found in these small parties out on open sheets of fresh water or 
in the backwaters of rivers, and even on the tide; but only very rarely do they 
resort to the sea unless forced thither by severe weather,^ their small feet 
being ill adapted for making headway in rough water. In quiet boggy pools 
they love to rest and dream away the day in the marshes, but towards even- 
ing or on cold days they become unusually restive, and spend their time 
swimming quickly about and skimming the surface of the water for floating 
weed and insects. This swimming and feeding pose is a highly characteristic 
^ In Scotland I have only once seen Shovelers on the sea. 
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