228 REPTILES AND BIRDS. 
parts of the fur countries, from the fiftieth parallel to their most 
northerly limits. Audubon found it abundant in winter about New 
Orleans, in East llorida, and on the Chesapeake Bay. “Although they 
dive much and to a great depth in our bays and estuaries, yet, when 
in the shallow ponds of the interior, they prefer dabbling in the mud 
along the shores, much in the manner of the Mallard.” 
This bird reaches France in little flocks of twenty to forty in the 
month of October. It can easily be caught in nets. 
The Canvas-back Duck (Azas vallisineria) of America, the most 
delicious of waterfowl, is next deserving of notice. 
Fig 86.—-The Shoveller. 
THE SHOVELLER (Avas cypeata). 
The Shoveller (Fig. 86) is very common on the Seine and the 
Marne, where it is called rouge de rivicre. It is smaller than 
the common Wild Duck, and has a very long bill, with the upper 
mandible of a semi-cylindrical shape, dilated at its extremity, some- 
what in the form of a small spoon. This bird is really charming in 
the brilliancy of its plumage. Its head and neck are of a bright 
green, and its wings are variegated with streaks of a bmilliant pale 
blue, green, white, and black. It is called “red” because its 
plumage underneath is of a brownish-red hue. In the month of 
February it abandons the icy regions of the north, to visit the more 
southern lakes and rivers of France and Germany. With us it is 
