36 NORTH AMERICAlSr DUCKS, GEESE, AND SWANS. 



Casarca casarca (Linn.). Ruddy Sheldrake. 



This is a European, African, and Asiatic species that has been taken 

 several times in western and northern Greenland, 



Spatula clypeata (Linn.). Shoveler. 



Breeding range. — The principal North American summer home of 

 the shoveler is in the prairie region of the interior, from a little south 

 of the Canadian border, north to the Saskatchewan. Throughout this 

 region it is common. To the eastward it is rare. It is scarcely com- 

 mon as far as Hudson Bay; nor is it common east of a line from south- 

 eastern Michigan to the mouth of Chesapeake Bay, in which latter 

 region it is found onh^ in migration and in winter. In the maritime 

 provinces of Canada, and even north to Newfoundland, the shoveler has 

 been recorded as a rare or casual visitor; but reliable breeding records 

 from this region seem to be lacking. It is rare as a breeder in southern 

 Michigan, and to the eastward is almost accidental in summer, though 

 it has been known to breed at English Lake, northwestern Indiana, and 

 at Long Point, on the north shore of Lake Erie. The regular breed- 

 ing range extends south to northern Iowa and southern South Dakota; 

 thence southward it breeds rarelv and localh^ in Nebraska and Kansas, 

 and during the summer of 1905 one of the parties of the Biological 

 Survey found it breeding near East Bernard, about latitude 29^ 30', in 

 southeastern Texas. In the western United States the species breeds 

 commonl}' from Colorado to northern California, and rarely in New 

 Mexico (Santa Rosa), Arizona (Mogollon ^Mountains), and southern 

 California (Los Angeles County). On the southern coast of Texas the 

 species is not uncommon all summer, though these summer residents 

 are probably nonbreeders. Mated birds have been found in May in 

 northern Chihuahua, Mexico, and at the southern end of Lower Cali- 

 fornia, and it is not improbable that the species may breed locally in 

 these districts, and even south to Lake Chapala, Jalisco. 



The northern limit of the usual breeding range is from the valley of 

 the Saskatchewan to central British Columbia. The species is a rare 

 breeder thence northward to the edge of the Barren Grounds,, casually 

 to Fort Anderson and Fort McPherson. It is rather rare in the Yukon 

 region, but has been known to breed at Fort Yukon, Nulato, and along 

 the west coast of Alaska from the mouth of the Kuskokwim River to 

 Kotzebue Sound. The shoveler has a wide range in the Eastern Hemi- 

 sphere, breeding north about to the Arctic Circle, and retiring in win- 

 ter to northern Africa and southern Asia. 



Winter range. — A few pass south in winter to Colombia, South 

 America (Medellin, Bogota), Panama, Costa Rica, and through the West 

 Indies (Cuba, Jamaica, Porto Rico, St. Thomas, Barbados, and Trini- 

 dad). It is rare in Florida, and seems not to have been noted in the 



