$8 Bird - Lore 



In writing of their breeding habits in North Dakota, in The Auk, 1902, Mr. 

 A. C. Bent says: 



"They frequent the same locaUties as the Blue- winged Teal, are equally 

 tame, and probably lay their eggs about the same time as this species. We 

 found only two nests of the Shoveller, in spite of their universal abundance. 

 From the fact that we frequently saw them flying about in pairs, I inferred 

 that many of them do not complete their sets before June 15, which would 

 make this one of the later-laying species. After the sets are completed, the 

 males associate with the Mallards and Pintails in the smaller ponds and open 

 sloughs. Nearly every slough, meadow, or pond-hole that we visited contained 

 one or more pairs of these handsome little Ducks. The charm of collecting 

 and studying birds in this highly favored region is greatly enhanced by con- 

 stantly flushing this and the other numerous species of Ducks from every 

 favorable locality. We were kept in a constant state of delightful expectancy, 

 and were seldom disappointed. 



"The nesting-ground of the Shoveller is the broad expanse of virgin prairie, 

 often far away from the nearest water, sometimes on high, dry, ground and 

 sometimes in moist meadow-land or near a slough or pond. The first nest that 

 we found was in the center of a hollow in the prairie between two 

 knolls, where the ground was moist but not actually wet, and where 

 the grass grew thick and luxuriantly. The next was well hidden in the thick, 

 green grass, so that we never should have found it if we had not flushed the 

 bird within ten feet of us. It was merely a depression in the ground, well lined 

 with dry grasses, and sparingly lined with gray down around the eggs; more 

 down would probably have been added as incubation advanced. The ten eggs 

 which it contained were perfectly fresh when collected on June 3." 



The Shovellers that in the winter inhabit the marshes, ponds, and rice- 

 fields of the South Atlantic Coast reach that region after a long overland journey 

 from their summer home in the Northwestern States or in Canada. They come 

 to the coast in the neighborhood of Maryland, and then turn southward. The 

 eastern flight thus passes southward of the Northeastern States, so that in 

 that part of our country the Shoveller is rarely found. 



Mr. Witmer Stone records only three occurrences of this bird in New Jersey 

 since 1888. Eaton, in his "Birds of New York," says that although the species 

 is found in migration in western New York it is seldom seen on the great duck- 

 ing-grounds of Long Island. Mr. William Brewster, in writing of its occurrence 

 in Massachusetts, declares it to be "one of the very rarest of the surface- 

 feeding Ducks." 



Before the sale of wildfowl was prohibited in New York, it was not uncom- 

 mon to find Shovellers in the markets of its cities; but these were birds that 

 were sent in from either the West or the South. In Mexico City, I found them 

 common in the markets, along with Teals, Mallards, and Pintails. Where it 

 is possible to sell them, they usually bring a fairly good price, although, owing 



