THE SHOVELER.
or in the water either dead or dying. So thickly at times do these short-lived insects cover the water that, in places, the masses look like large patches of grey film.
This is the time for the Shoveler. He and his mate, will, so to speak, lay their heads and necks on the water, the lower mandible being just under water; and they will paddle along feeding as they go. These insects are part of their food in the season. Then too, they can probe and spatter on the edge of the reeds, where they find plenty of food, for the soft mud at their roots is full of the seeds of water plants growing below. As to the undeveloped forms of insect life, the light vegetable mud is full of these. So this handsome bird goes on his way very happily if not disturbed.”[8]
Shovelers are plump ducks, and when their food is right are excellent for the table.
The Shoveler visits Great Britain during cold weather, and a fair number of the birds stay and breed with us.
The Shoveler is smaller than the Wild Duck and is more thick-set in build. Its chief characteristic is its powerful spoon-shaped, or rather shovel-shaped bill, which broadens out in front, and is furnished with a thickly toothed, comb-like arrangement on the inner edge which is specially adapted for filtering the water. The drake has beautiful plumage. The beauty spot on the wings is of a lustrous green, and has a white upper border, the wing itself is light blue. The sides of the head are bluish-green, with a fine lustre, the crop white. The forepart of the mantle is greenish-black, each feather having a white border; rump bluish—black as is also the under tail cover. Shoulder feathers pointed, black and white, legs orange, bill dark. The female bird resembles the female wild duck in colour, but the broad shovel-shaped bill, immediately marks the difference between the two birds. The nest is placed in the boggy parts of the marshes and is formed simply of litter. The clutch consists of seven to fourteen rusty yellow eggs.
The Great Crested Grebe.
(Podicipes cristatus.)
The nest of the Great Crested Grebe is built of various decaying plants, and floats on the water. It is not found in the thick reed-beds; but on their borders, where the reeds are already beginning to shoot. There it so fixed to a single stalk that it remains in one place, and cannot be washed away. It usually contains four longish white eggs, which, however, become brown and dirty during the long sitting and rotten surroundings. The young birds are grey with dark stripes. In times of danger the mother gathers them closely under her wings and then dives until the peril is past.