DUCKS 



127 



Though it is the wise practice to try to estab- 

 lish only one vernacular name for each species, I 

 think that this Duck is better known as " Spoon- 

 bill " by the average hunter and out-door person. 

 Nor is this name absurd, as is sometimes the 

 case with popular names. The bird certainly 

 carries quite a prodigious spoon with it upon all 

 occasions, and is never at a loss to use it deftly 

 in its natural haunts. A popular name for it 

 might well have been " mud-sucker." The great 

 bill is edged with a long fringe of bristles, and 

 the quaint little Duck, almost top-heavy in ap- 

 pearance, paddles tlirough the slough, con- 

 stantlv dabbling in water and ooze, which it takes 

 into its bill, and, ejecting the refuse through its 

 " sieve," retains whatever nutritious matter there 

 may be. 



This is another fresh-water Duck which is 

 scarce in eastern districts but common in the 

 West. There it frequents the shallow sloughs 

 and bogs. It seems to be more strictly insectivor- 

 ous than some of the other Ducks. Though they 

 were abundant in Louisiana in winter, and were 

 associated with the many Pintails and Teals 

 which ate the rice put out for them, the Shovellers 

 seldom touched it, not that they were par- 

 ticularly shy, but apparently because they pre- 

 ferred the natural fare of bugs and aquatic 

 growths. 



I have watched the Shovellers a good deal, as 

 they nested in the prairie sloughs of the North- 

 west. In spring the male is a very gaudy 

 creature, far outshining his plain little wife as 

 they swim in the slough. They are then quite 

 tame and easy to observe, and I have seen them 

 in roadside pools, and even in swamjiv barn- 

 yards, where it seemed that they must be domes- 

 ticated Ducks, until suddenly they flew away. 



Nesting is usually in rather thick grass, fre- 

 quently only a short distance back from the edge 

 of the slough, or even in a tussock on quite 

 moist ground. Yet, on the other hand, it is often 

 far back on the dry prairie, quite a distance from 

 water. Really there is no accounting for the 

 tastes of individual Ducks. 



Speaking of taste, in another sense, many 

 people have the idea that the Shoveller is a lean, 

 scrawny sort of bird, always thin and poor eat- 

 ing. My experience has been that, on its winter 

 grounds in the South, it is fat and luscious, quite 

 as good as one of those delicious little morsels, 

 the Teals. 



It is a rather delicate bird, and does not stand 



\'nl.. I — IC: 



the cold as well as many other Ducks. Hence it 

 migrates fairly early and goes well to the South. 

 If kept in captivity over winter in the North, 

 both it and Teals should have some shelter from 

 the worst of the winter weather. I have known 

 them, in very bitter cold, to have their bills ac- 

 cumulate balls of ice as the water trickled down 

 tlie bristles and froze. Probably no better plan 

 could be employed for wintering these delicate 

 Ducks than the model aquatic house which we 

 have adopted for this juirpose at the experiment 

 station of the National Audubon Society at 

 Amston. Conn. It is a small house built out in 



Photo by H. K. Job Courtesy of Outing Pub. Cr . 



YOUNG SHOVELLERS 



the water on posts, the inside being a swimming- 

 pool and a float, with large frame windows to 

 the south and west, to utilize all possible sun- 

 shine. There the Ducks thrive in comfort all 

 winter, without having the water freeze, even 

 when 15 degrees below zero outside, and in spring 

 thev are not reduced in vitality, and are in fine 

 condition to breed. Herbert K. Job. 



"Audubon states that repeated insj)ections of 

 stomachs of these species disclosed leeches, small 

 fish, earthworms, and snails. It feeds also on 

 aquatic plants, grasses, grass seeds, and bulbs, 

 which it procures along the shores of small ponds 

 which it frequents. It often feeds by wading 

 and dabbling in the mud, straining mud and 

 water through its peculiarly constructed bill. 

 Dr. James P. Hatch states that it feeds on 

 aquatic insects, larva?, 'tadpoles, worms, etc., 

 which it finds in shallow, muddy waters : also 

 crustaceans, small mollusks and snails." ( For- 

 liush. in Game Birds, Wild Find and Shore 

 Birds.) 



