. Indian sporting birds . of the shoveller, very like ashoeing-horn in shape, and provided along the edges with a combof horny sifting-plates, is so characteristic that anyone couldpick the owner out in the dark by merely feeling its beak. It istherefore unnecessary to go into any details about the plumage ofthe mottled-brown female, but in justice to the drake it must bementioned that he combines the mallards green head with thepintails white breast, and wings bluer than the garganeys withflanks and belly redder than the Brahminy. He is, in fact, a very flashy-looking bird when in colour, but
. Indian sporting birds . of the shoveller, very like ashoeing-horn in shape, and provided along the edges with a combof horny sifting-plates, is so characteristic that anyone couldpick the owner out in the dark by merely feeling its beak. It istherefore unnecessary to go into any details about the plumage ofthe mottled-brown female, but in justice to the drake it must bementioned that he combines the mallards green head with thepintails white breast, and wings bluer than the garganeys withflanks and belly redder than the Brahminy. He is, in fact, a very flashy-looking bird when in colour, butin undress plumage he is very like his brown mate, but is dis-tinguishable by having the blue wing-patch. Even his bill atthis time changes colour, from jet-black to the olive and orangeof the female. He keeps his undress a long time, not cominginto colour as a rule before Christmas. Take away his bill andwings, and the shoveller is a rather small duck, only weighingabout a pound and a half with those appendages SHOVELLER 13 He is also of rather small account from a sporting point of view,for though one of our very commonest winter ducks, spreadingall over the Empire except the islands in the Bay of Bengal, heis not numerous anywhere, going in small flocks or pairs, whichsomewhat affect the company of other species. His tastes, more-over, are low ; although to be found here and there in any sort ofwatery environment, what he really likes is muddy shallows andweedy ponds, and even dirty little village tanks, where stores oforganic matter appeal to his palate. He is exquisitely providedfor extracting nutriment suspended in water by his wonderfulbill, which, as Darwin long ago pointed out, is like the mouthof a whalebone whale in miniature ; the principle is the samein all ducks bills, but in the shoveller it is carried to perfection,and so this bird seldom feeds by exploring the bottom or foragingon shore ; but paddles slowly about, often turning in a circle, andbibble
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