62 The Natural History of British Ducks 
only a few pairs remaining on this and the neighbouring Easton Broad near 
Southwold. 
On Loch Leven and Loch Spynie in Scotland I have had good 
opportunities of studying Shovelers. In spring they arrive in one big flock, 
and in a few days are paired and soon become very tame, so much so that, 
when fishing, it is almost possible to cast a fly over the birds. On Loch 
Leven over a hundred pairs of birds are sometimes seen in the spring, but 
not more than eight or ten pairs stay to nest there, while on Loch Spynie 
some ten to twenty pairs annually breed. Yet these two favourite resorts 
undoubtedly form in Scotland the main bases from which most of the other 
little bogs receive their birds. During the past fifty years Loch Spynie and 
its immediate surroundings have undergone considerable improvement from the 
theoretical farmer's point of view, and the present lake and marsh comprise 
only about a third of their former area. In St. John's time (not the Bible 
character of that name) a boggy marsh extended from the embankment right 
up the valley for more than a mile towards Gordonstoun on the Gordon- 
Cumming property, and here was the great snipe ground, with feeding-places 
for the innumerable ducks that rested during the day on the waters of the 
loch. Yet it is doubtful if Shovelers were as plentiful then as they now are ; 
Captain Dunbar Brander considers that, though there were always Shovelers 
on the loch in summer, the great increase really commenced there, as else- 
where, about the year 1886. 
The spring courtship on the part of the male Shoveler is both quiet and 
undemonstrative, nor does his lady-love betray any particular emotion. He 
swims slowly up to her, uttering a low guttural croak, like the words ' Konk, 
konk,' and at the same time elevating his head and neck and jerking his bill 
upwards. The female then bows in recognition, and both proceed to swim 
slowly round in circles, one behind the other, with the water running through 
their bills. 
A somewhat unusual circumstance in the matrimonial arrangements of 
this duck is the prevalence of polyandry where circumstances seem to call for 
