WATER BIRDS. 85 



River (S. E. White) ; Chandler's Marsh, Ingham county, (numerous records) ; 

 Ann Arbor (Covert); Monroe county, eggs taken June 15, 1890 (Trombley); 

 St. Clair Flats (Swales) ; Neebish Island, St. Mary's River (Boies) ; Wayne 

 county, (Purdy). 



TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION. 



Adult male with chin, face, and crown brownish-black, darkest on the crown; a con- 

 spicuous crescent of pure white on each side of head in front of the eye, the upper horn 

 ending directly above the eye, the lower horn nearly meeting its fellow on the throat; 

 rest of the head and most of the neck clear bluish ash with a purplish gloss; lower neck 

 and entire breast, sides and belly pinkish brown, each feather with a distinct rounded 

 spot; upper back ashy-brown, each feather margined with buffy-white; scapulars brownish- 

 black with sharp shaft-stripes of light buff; lower back and rump ashy-brown, unspotted; 

 lower tail-coverts velvet-black in sharp contrast with the spotted belly; a large white 

 patch on each side of the base of the tail. Speculum green, bordered in front by a white 

 bar; entire shoulder in front of this bar light blue. Female similar as to the wings, but 

 specidum merely greenish with only a narrow line of white in front; chin and upper throat 

 buffy-white, unspotted; remainder of under parts buffy or brownish-white everywhere, 

 the feathers streaked or spotted with brown or black; crown dark brown with a few pale 

 streaks; scapulars, back, rump and upper tail-coverts brownish black, each feather dis- 

 tinctly edged with buffy-white. 



Length 14.50 to 16 inches; wing 7 to 7.50; culmen 1.40 to 1.65. 



The male in late summer and the young of the year resemble the adult female except 

 that the adult male always shows the characteristic speculum. 



40. Shoveller. Spatula clypeata (Linn.). (142) 



Synonyms: Spoon-bill, Red-breasted Shoveller, Blue-winged Shoveller, Shovel-bill. 

 — Anas clypeata, Linn., 1758. — Spatula clypeata, Boie, 1822, and most recent authors. 



Adults of either sex may be known at once by the size and light blue 

 wing-coverts; the much smaller Blue- winged Teal being the only species 

 with a similar shoulder. The blue is gray-blue or wanting in young birds. 

 The spoon-like bill of course is distinctive at any age. 



Distribution. — Northern Hemisphere. In North America breeding from 

 Alaska to Texas; not abundant on the Atlantic coast north of the Carolinas. 



Contrary to what might be inferred from the books this is nowhere a 

 common duck in Michigan. Our reports come mainly from the St. Clair 

 Flats and Saginaw Bay, but it has been noted here and there all over the 

 state. According to Swales, in southeastern Michigan it is a fairly common 

 migrant, has been taken at Plymouth, Wayne county, by Purdy, and 

 Morden and Saunders say "It may breed at the Flats" (Swales). We have 

 records from Kalamazoo county, Ingham county, Kent county, and St. 

 Clair county, in addition to those already given, but I do not find a single 

 definite nesting record, although several observers state that "It is a 

 summer resident," and Langille says the nest is "rarely found" at St. 

 Clair Flats (Bull. Buffalo Soc. Nat. Hist. V, 1877, 36). According to A. 

 C. Bent (Auk, XIX, 3, 4) it is one of the commonest ducks in North Dakota, 

 nesting abundantly. The nest is a slight hollow in the ground scantily 

 lined with down, and the eggs are similar to those of the JMallard and 

 Pintail, very pale olive buff or greenish gray. The nests are often placed 

 away from water on the open prairie, and sets are seldom complete before 

 June 15. The eggs average 2.12 by 1.48 inches. It may be looked for 

 in spring from about the first of April until the second week in May, and 

 its southward flight begins about September 1 and may last until the 

 middle or end of October. 



It frequents the same feeding grounds as the Mallard and uses to great 



