The nest is rudely formed of withered grass, collected in considerable quantity, and the female is a close sitter. The young Shovellers have to find their food in the water, and therefore they have the feet and the bill in a tolerably complete state when they come out of the shell, whereas the organs of flight are then in a rudimental state; and they continue so much longer than they do in birds which are obliged to make use of the wing at an early stage of their existence. This slow production of the organs of flying is general among birds which seek their food upon the ground, whether in the shallow waters, the marshes, the fields, or the uplands; but all of them are better provided for the use of their bills and feet than birds of more early flight. Thus we see how well these creatures are adapted to the places in which they reside, and to which they are of course drawn by this very adaptation. The Shoveller is thus accurately described by Nuttall. The head, adjoining half of the neck, medial stripe to the interscapulars; the whole back, interior scapulars and primaries, umber brown; sides of the head, the neck and crest, glossed with duck green; the rump and tail coverts, above and below, with blackish green; lower half of the neck, the breast, shoulders, shorter scapulars, ends of the greater wing coverts and sides of the rump, white; longer scapulars, striped with pale blue, white and blackish brown; lesser coverts, pale blue; speculum or wing-spot, brilliant grass green, broadly bordered above and narrowly edged below with white, bounded interiorly with greenish black; belly and flanks, deep orange brown, the latter waved posteriorly with black; bill, black; legs, orange. * * * * * THE ISLETS OF THE GULF; OR, ROSE BUDD. Ay, now I am in Arden; the more fool I; when I was at home I was in a better place; but Travelers must be content. AS YOU LIKE IT. BY THE AUTHOR OF “PILOT,” “RED ROVER,” “TWO ADMIRALS,” “WING-AND-WING,” “MILES WALLINGFORD,” ETC. [Entered, according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1846, by J. Fenimore Cooper, in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the United States, for the Northern District of New York.] _Pros._ Why, that’s my spirit! But was not this nigh shore? _Ariel._ Close by, my master. _Pros._ But are they, Ariel, safe? _Ariel._ Not a hair perished. TEMPEST. “D’ye hear there, Mr. Mulford?” called out Capt. Stephen Spike, of the half-rigged brigantine Swash, or Molly Swash, as was her registered name, to his mate—“we shall be dropping out as soon as the tide makes, and I intend to get through the Gate, at least, on the next flood. Waiting for a wind in port is lubberly seamanship, for he that wants one should go outside and look for it.”