54 BIRDS OF SOUTH DAKOTA 
this Duck: The female will select a nesting site in a patch of 
high, dead grass and lay an egg. As each successive egg is de- 
posited she works at the nest by pulling dry grass up around her, 
so that by the time all her eggs are laid the nest is finished. In 
size the Shoveler is nearly as long as the Mallard but the body 
is much smaller. It is easily distinguished from other Ducks by 
its long spatulate bill. Male: head green; breast white; back 
white streaked with black; belly brown. Female: buff and black. 
Both sexes have a blue wing patch. 
At a distance this Duck is often taken for the Mallard, 
and many a time has the hunter espied what he thought to be 
a flock of Mallards feeding in a slough and crawled several hun- 
dred feet through mud and water, weeds and briers only to find 
a bunch of “Spoonbills.” They are apparently a sociable Duck 
and are often seen feeding in shallow water with Blue-winged 
Weal: 
143. Prntait (Dafila acuta.) 
Central tail feathers black, very long and pointed in both 
sexes, but shorter in the female; head mixed with gray buff; 
breast and under parts light ; back and wings dark gray and more 
or less barred. Not so large as the Mallard; quite abundant; 
nests locally over the State. 
144. Woopv Duck (Aix sponsa.) 
In color of plumage this is considered the most beautiful 
Duck in North America. It breeds occasionally in the eastern 
part of the State, placing its nest in hollow branches of trees or 
hollow stumps near water. A male was taken in Hamlin County 
in 1909 by Mr. H. E. Lee, and one the same year by Mr. Alex 
Walker. During August and early September of 1916 a flock 
of twelve or fifteen was seen a number of times on a waterhole 
in the woods four miles west of Vermillion. It was presumed at 
the time that they were an old female with her brood and that 
they had been raised in the vicinity. 
During the fall these Ducks feed extensively on acorns, 
and it is said that they also feed to some extent on insects. The 
bill is small, with upper mandible hooked. Male: a green crest 
striped with white; sides of head and neck patched with black 
and white; breast brown specked with white; belly nearly white ; 
