BRITISH BIRDS, 
347 
l^hey are at firfl: very fliapelefs and ugly, for the bill 
is then almoft as broad as the body, and feems too 
great a weight for the little bird to carry. Their 
plumage does not acquire its full colours until after 
the fecond moult. 
It would appear, from the varied defcriptions of 
omithologifts, that thefe birds differ much from each 
other, both in the colour of the bill, and in the dif- 
pofition of the markings of their rich-coloured plu- 
mage. All, however, agree in ranking the Shovel- 
er among the mofl beautiful of the Duck tribe ; 
and it is alfo, in the opinion of many, inferior to 
none of them in the delicate flavour of its flefli, 
which is red, juicy, and tender. 
It has not yet been afcertained whether the Sho- 
veler breeds in England, where indeed it is a fcarce 
bird 5 but according to M. Baillon, * they are not 
uncommon in France, where they arrive about the 
month of February, difperfe in the marflies, and a 
part of them hatch every year. He conjedlures that 
they advance fouthward, for they are feldom met 
with after the firfl northerly wind that blows in 
March, and he adds, that thofe of them which then 
flay behind do not depart till September. He 
alfo remarks that hardly “any are ever feen during 
the winter, from which he concludes that they fhun 
the approach of cold. They are faid to be met 
* The friend and correfpondent of the Count de Buffan. 
X X 2 
