273 
The Shoveler may be said to measure 
about twenty one inches in length, and 
thirty inches in extent of wing. They dif- 
fer in size and weight full as much as in 
the colour of their plumage. Their 
weight is from seventeen ounces to twenty 
two ounces, and females have been taken 
whose weight do not exceed that of the 
Teal. 
The female places her nest in a tuft of 
grass or rushes, the nest is formed of fine 
grass, the usual number of eggs is eight 
or nine, but sometimes as many as thir- 
teen ; when she quits the nest she covers 
the eggs with grass, and as soon as she 
begins to sit, lines it with down from her 
body. The egg is of a dull cream colour, 
slightly tinged with green,* and weighs 
one ounce two scruples. Bewick describes 
the eggs as being of a rusty colour ; Mon- 
tagu, Graves, and others describe them to 
be rufous. Without imputing any inten- 
tion on the part of those justly celebrated 
* This description of the egg is not given from an in- 
dividual specimen but from several, all of which agreed 
as much as possible. 
2 M 
