269 
PROVINCIAL. 
BROAD BILL, SPOON-BILL DUCK, 
BLUE WINGED SHOVELER. 
The Shoveler affords another example of 
the necessity, of not merely attending to 
the external appearance of the birds be- 
longing to this genus, in order to identify 
the species. 
Mr. Pennant described a bird in the 
British Zoology, under the title Red-breast- 
ed Shoveler, it is said to be sometimes 
taken in the decoys in Lincolnshire, and to 
be extremely rare. Other authors on the 
above authority, (and from a few specimens 
since taken in different parts of the king- 
dom), continued to describe the bird as a 
distinct species. Had it not been for the 
discovery of the different formations in the 
trachea: of the various species belonging to 
this genus, we should still have remained in 
ignorance ; not that the bird in the plumage 
as described by Pennant, is so extremely 
rare, but, because it is only to be obtained 
at a certain season of the year, and that, 
