270 
when neither the gun is in use, nor the 
decoys in general open. 
Montagu has described a bird, which 
agrees in plumage, with that noticed by 
Pennant, it was killed on the south coast 
of Devon, Aug. 5th, 1807. Upon dissec- 
tion, the exact similitude of the labyrinth, 
with the same part of the blue ivinged 
Shoveler, left not a doubt, that it was the 
same species in one of the mutations of 
plumage, to which many of the tribe are 
known to be subject : either intermediate 
between the young and the adult, or the 
annual change of the adult, similar to what 
takes place with the Pintail. 
We have had specimens of the male of 
this species in the plumage of the Red- 
breasted Shoveler, others with the breast 
mottled with semi-circles of brown and 
white, and others in the complete plumage 
of the female; these latter we consider to 
be the male birds of the first year, and from 
this circumstance it is probable that the 
Shoveler does not pair till the second. 
Montagu says, that " It has been sup- 
posed that Shovelers breed at ' present in 
