136 BULLETIN 126, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



in the south is well under way before the end of March, but they do 

 not wholh'^ disappear from Louisiana until early in May and the first 

 arrivals do not reach northern Alaska until about the middle of May. 

 On the spring migration the birds are in small flocks, frequenting the 

 ponds and rivers, usually not associating much with other species. Soon 

 after their arrival on their breeding grounds they spread out among 

 the sloughs, creeks, and marshes, breaking up into pairs or small 

 parties of three or four. 



Courtship. — ^The courtship of the shoveller does not amount to very 

 much as a spectacular performance; Millais (1902) describes it, as 

 follows : 



The spring courtship on the part of the male ehoveler is both quiet and unde- 

 monstrative, nor does his ladylove betray any particular emotion. He swims 

 slowly up to her, uttering a low guttural croak, like the words konk, konk, and at 

 the same time elevating his head and neck and jerking his bill upwards. The female 

 then bows in recognition, and both proceed to swim slowly round in circles, one behind 

 the other, with the water running through their bills. 



A somewhat imusual circumstance in the matrimonial arrangements of this duck 

 is the prevalence of polyandry where circumstances seem to call for it, and the amia- 

 bility with which it is accepted by the united drakes. As a rule, where the sexes 

 are equal in a breeding haunt the male and female pair and keep together in the usual 

 way; but where there is a preponderance of males it is quite common to see a female 

 with two males constantlj'- in attendance, and these two husbands will remain with 

 her, apparently in complete amity, until she has commenced to sit. The custom is, 

 of course, quite common in the case of mallards, but with them there is a certain 

 amount of jealousy on the part of the males, either of whom will drive off and, if pos- 

 sible, keep away altogether, his marital partner. Somewhat remarkable, too, is the 

 fact that after two adult shovelers have paired, the additional male is generally a bird 

 of the previous year whose plumage is only partially complete. Possibly this may 

 be due to the misfortune of the young Lothario, who, finding that most of the young 

 females of the previous year have gone off by themselves and will not pair, must con- 

 tent himself with such favor as he may find with an older and already mated bird. 

 Certainly, on Loch Spynie, in the month of May, I have seen quite as many trios as 

 pairs of shovelers, and in nearly every case the third bird was in immature plumage. 



It also indulges in spirited courtship flights, in which two males 

 often pursue a single female in an aerial love chase, exhibiting their 

 wonderful powers of flight with swift dashes and rapid turnings until 

 one of the males finds himself outclassed. 



Nesting. — In North Dakota in 1901 we found the shoveller evenly 

 distributed everywhere, one of the commonest ducks, frequenting the 

 same localities as the blue-winged teal and equally tame. We saw 

 them frequently flying about in pairs, up to the middle of June, from 

 which I inferred that their sets were not complete until about that 

 time. In that region the nesting ground of the shoveller was the broad 

 expanse of virgin prairie, often far away from the nearest water, some- 

 times on high dry ground and sometimes in moist meadow land or 

 near a slough or pond. The flrst nest that we found was in the center 

 of a hollow in the prairie between two knolls, where the ground was 



