SHOVELLER. 301 



birds visit the small fresh-water lakes and marshes near the 

 sea in Massachusetts, and in the course of the winter continue 

 south to the extremity of the Union, penetrating into Mexico 

 and along the coast of the Gulf to Vera Cruz, and perhaps still 

 farther, in quest of subsistence and shelter from the cold. 

 Soon after March, according to Baillon, they disperse through 

 the fens in France to breed, and select the same places with 

 the Summer Teal, choosing, with them, large tufts of rushes, 

 making a nest of withered grass in the most boggy and diffi- 

 cult places of access, near waters. The young, in consequence 

 of the great disproportion of the bill, at that period, have a 

 most uncouth and awkward appearance, seeming to be op- 

 pressed by its weight, and perpetually inclined to rest it upon 

 the breast. They run about and swim, however, as soon as 

 hatched, and are carefully attended by the parent, who inces- 

 santly guards them from the surprise of ravenous birds. On 

 these occasions, when the danger becomes unavoidable, the 

 young are seen to squat silently among the grass, while the 

 old birds run oif and dive. The cry of this species has been 

 compared to that of a rattle turned by small jerks in the hand. 

 The Shoveller is considered one of the most tender and 

 delicate-flavored Ducks, growing very fat in winter. Its 

 usual food is said to be small fish and insects, — rarely vege- 

 tables and seeds. In a pair of the young which I examined, 

 that were killed in Fresh Pond, in this vicinity, the stomach 

 contained many fragments of a very delicate divaricated small 

 green Fiicus, minute Scirpi plucked up by the roots, also frag- 

 ments of some Chara, with minute Natica and Anomia shells 

 quite comminuted, and a portion of gravel. We see, therefore, 

 that the remarkable structure of the bill in this species is no 

 way generally indicative of any peculiar habit of feeding. The 

 labyrinth in the trachea of the male is small, and its voice 

 probably proportionately feeble. 



This beautiful bird, with its strangely shaped bill, is but rarely 

 seen along the Atlantic coast north of Connecticut, though, like 

 others of our water-fowl, it is well-known to gunners and sports- 

 men in more southern shooting resorts. 



