DUCKS, GEESE, AND SWANS: Family Anatidae [149] 



streaked with blue, white, and black; speculum green; chest white, belly chestnut; 

 bill black, feet orange. Adult female: plumage mainly spotted and streaked with 

 dusky and brown; wing as in the male but duller." (Bailey) Downy young: "Even 

 when first hatched the young shoveller's bill is decidedly longer and more spatulate 

 than that of the young mallard, and it grows amazingly fast, so that when two weeks 

 old there is no difficulty in identifying the species. The color of the downy young 

 above varies from 'olive brown,' or 'sepia,' to 'buffy brown,' darker on the crown, 

 which is 'clove brown' or 'olive brown'; the color of the back extends far down onto 

 the sides of the chest and on the flanks. The under parts vary from 'maize yellow' or 

 'cream buff' to 'cartridge buff' or 'ivory yellow'; this color deepens to 'chamois' on 

 the cheeks. There is a stripe of 'olive brown' through the eye, including the loral 

 and postocular region, also an auricular spot of the same. There is a light buffy spot 

 on each side of the back, behind the wings, and one on each side of the rump. The 

 buffy or chamois colored stripes above the eyes are well marked and often confluent 

 on the forehead." (Bent) Si%e: "Length 17-2.1, wing 910, bill z. 60-1. 90, width of 

 bill at the base .60, near end i . 10-1 .2.0. ' ' (Bailey) Nest: Like that of other ducks of 

 its kind, on the ground in grass or under bushes or trees, made of grass or other vege- 

 tation and lined and covered with down. Eggs: 9 to 14, olive greenish to buff. 



DISTRIBUTION. General: Breeds from Alaska to west coast of Hudson Bay and central 

 New York, south to Indiana, northern Iowa, Kansas, New Mexico, Arizona, and 

 southern California. Winters from British Columbia on coast and in interior from 

 southern California, Arizona, New Mexico, central Texas, and southern Mississippi 

 Valley to South America. In Oregon: Breeds regularly in eastern Oregon, mostly in 

 Klamath, Lake, and Harney Counties. Appears on west side of Cascades during 

 migrations. 



THE SHOVELLER, or "Spoonbill" or "Spoony," as it is known among 

 lovers of the duck marshes, is, in the male, one of our most brilliantly 

 colored native ducks and at the same time one of our most grotesque 

 looking. The striking markings of the male, with white and chestnut 

 red and bright blue in the plumage, are all obscured by the huge spoon 

 bill, which is almost twice as wide at the upper end as at the base. In 

 watching their flight, an observer constantly expects to see these birds 

 tipped downward, head over heels, by the weight of the huge bills, and 

 one wonders how they manage to keep their feet down and their heads 

 up when in the water. Awkward as the bill appears, however, it is a 

 very useful implement, as it is edged with fine, comblike teeth that act 

 as a strainer for sifting out the mud from the seeds and bulblets on which 

 this duck delights to feed. 



The Spoonbill is an abundant summer resident of the great eastern 

 Oregon marshes. As it loves warm weather, it is one of the later ducks 

 to arrive, usually appearing in numbers in April or early May. Our 

 earliest record is March zz (Lake County); and our latest, December 10 

 (Klamath County). The Shoveller population is not at its height, how- 

 ever, until well into April, and it becomes increasingly scanty after mid- 

 September. Townsend (1839) first listed the species for the State, and 

 every ornithological observer who has visited eastern Oregon since has 

 commented on its presence. It is a regular nesting species on the Malheur 



