90 THE BIRDS OF MAINE 



ever its status was in the past. In North Dakota, where it is 

 said to nest commonly, the nest of fine soft grasses, lined with 

 down, is situated on the ground in a marsh or meadow near 

 some body of stagnant water. Eleven eggs found near Devil's 

 Lake, North Dakota, June 3, 1895, were buffy white in color 

 and measure 1.72 x 1.28, 1.79 x 1.26, 1.73 x 1.27, 1.81 x 1.28, 

 1.81 x 1.25, 1.83 X 1.26, 1.74 x 1.25, 1.74 x 1.26, 1.77 x 1.26, 

 1.76 X 1.25, 1.76 X 1.25. Six to fifteen eggs is the range in 

 number. 



These Ducks generally occur in September and October in 

 flocks of ten to fifteen, occasionally and locally in far larger 

 flocks along the coast, and in small flocks about the inland 

 waters locally at the same season, also locally in April and May. 

 They are very tame usually, and when driven to flight move 

 compactly and speedily. Their food consists of tender aquatic 

 plants, snails, allied mollusks, water insects, tadpoles, and sim- 

 ilar substances 



Genus SPATULA Boie. 



142. Spatula clypeata (Linn.). Shoveller; Spoonbill. 



Plumage of adult male: head and neck iridescent bluish green; breast 

 white, sometimes spotted with dusky; back and line down lower neck 

 fuscous ; lower breast and belly chestnut ; tail coverts dark greenish ; wing 

 coverts grayish blue, the greater ones tipped with white, forming a white 

 band ; speculum metallic green, white tipped ; outer scapulars white. 

 Plumage of adult female and immature : wing as in male but colors duller ; 

 back fuscous, feathers marked with whitish and buffy; head and neck 

 brownish buffy, streaked with dusky ; below rather grayish brown, washed 

 with buffy and spotted with dusky. Immature plumage : the young male 

 has the abdomen chestnut tinged, and colors slightly brighter than those of 

 the female, while the immature female has dusky speculum and slate gray 

 wing coverts, the speculum being only faintly glossed with green and 

 broadly tipped with brownish white. Wing 9.00 to 10.00; culmen 2.65; 

 tarsus 1.45 ; width of bill at end 1.15 ; width of bill at base 0.57 ; bill decidedly 

 spatulate. 



Geog. Dist. — Northern hemisphere, in North America much commoner in 

 the interior states ; breeds locally south to Texas, but generally from North 

 Dakota and Kansas northward ; winters from Virginia and southern Illinois 

 to South America. 



