417 



DUCKS. 



DUCKS. 



of Philadelphia in the winter (Bonaparte) ; and having its winter 

 quarters in the Middle and Southern States, Columbia River and 

 California. A. (Boackas) crecca, in lat. 70 ; migratory across the 

 continent ; very abundant ; on the Saskatchewan, as above, abundant 

 in summer; very common near Philadelphia in the winter (Bonaparte): 

 and with its winter quarters in the Middle and Southern States 

 towards the tropics. A. (Botckag) discors, in lat. 58 ; migratory 

 across the continent ; very abundant ; and on the Saskatchewan, as 

 above, abundant in summer; very common near Philadelphia in 

 summer (Bonaparte) ; and with the Mexican States, Columbia River, 

 and California for its winter quarters. Mareca Americana, in lat. 

 68 ; migratory ; rather common on the Saskatchewan, as above, in 

 summer ; common near Philadelphia in the winter (Bonaparte) ; win- 

 tering in the Middle and Southern States and in the West Indies. 

 Dendronetta tponta, in lat. 54 ; migratory ; rare on the Saskatchewan, 

 as above, in summer; common in the vicinity of Philadelphia in 

 summer (Bonaparte) ; wintering in the Southern States, Mexico (?) 

 West Indies. 



In the same work we find in the list of species which merely winter 

 in Pennsylvania, and migrate in summer to rear their young in the 

 Fur Countries, A. clypeata, A. (chauliodu*) itrepera, A. (Dafila) cauda- 

 cuta, A. (Botchai) domestica, A. (Boch<u) crecca, and Mareca Ameri- 

 cana; in the list of species which summer (or breed) in the 

 Fur Countries and in Pennsylvania, but winter farther to the south- 

 ward, A. (Botchas) ditcort and Dendronetta tponia; and in the list 

 of species common to the Old World and the Fur Countries, A. 

 clypeata, A. (Chauliodut) itrepera, A. (Dafila) acuta, A. (Boechas) 

 domett ica, and A. (Botchat) crecca. 



The A natintc feed on soft substances, such as fresh- water insects 

 and tender aquatic plants, which they procure near the surface, or, 

 aided by the length of their necks, at the bottom, in shallow muddy 



g laces, and worms and slugs, which they search for among the grass, 

 y day they resort to small lakes and rivers, and in the night retire 

 to the fields. They are strong and swift on the wing, and are 

 watchful birds, that seldom dive to escape pursuit, unless when 

 moulting ; but when disturbed fly away, making at the outset a circle 

 in the air to survey the cause of their alarm. ('Fauna Boreali- 

 Americana.') Sir John Richardson gives in a note the following 

 interesting information, derived from an intelligent keeper of a decoy 

 in the neighbourhood of the Rev. W. Booth of Friskney, in Lincoln- 

 shire, to whom he expresses his obligation for the statement : 

 " Skelton is unacquainted with the habits of the gad wall ; but he 

 tells me that the widgeon and pintail do not willingly dive : of 

 course, if driven to it, they can, but they do not dive for their food ; 

 and though in play they sometimes splash under water, they never 

 remain beneath the surface like the pochard. With respect to food, 

 the mallard, pintail, and teal, frequent rich flooded lands, ' swittering 

 with their nebs in the soil, and sucking out its strength ; ' but the 

 widgeon feeds quite differently, being ' an amazing fowl to graze, a 

 strange eater of grass.' It is especially fond of ' flutter-grass ' 

 (Glyccria aijuatica vel Jluilaiu ?), which it crops on the surface, but 

 it likewise eats many other herbs. When the decoy has been so 

 full of widgeons that they have devoured every blade on the landings, 

 Skelton has taken advantage of their absence in the night, when they 

 resort to the green salt marshes on the sea-coast, and laid down sods 

 pared from the fields, on which they readily graze. In common, 

 however, with the mallard, teal, and pintail, they are fond of willow- 

 weed-seeds (Epilnbium !), with which he feeds all the fowl in the 

 decoy, as they prefer it to oats and every other kind of grain. Mr. 

 Waterton states that ' the widgeon feeds by day, eating grass like 

 a goose ; whilst its congener the mallard invariably refuses this food, 

 and seeks for its sustenance by night.' " 



The genus Anat has the following characters : Bill about as long 

 as the head, broad, depressed, sides parallel, sometimes partially 

 dilated ; both mandibles furnished on the inner edges with transverse 

 lamella; ; nostrils small, oval, lateral, anterior to the base of the beak ; 

 legs rather short, placed under the centre of the body ; tarsus some- 

 what rounded ; toes three in front, connected by intervening mem 

 liranes ; hind toe free, without pendant lobe or membrane ; wings 

 rather long, pointed. Tail pointed or wedge-shaped. The sexes differ 

 in plumage. 



Anat clypeata (Linn.), the Shoveler. This is the Souchet of the 

 French ; Cucchiarone of the Italians ; Schild-Ente and Lofi'el-Ente o: 

 the Germans ; Mimenick of the Cree Indians ; Hwyad Lydaubig 

 of the Welsh ; Rhynchatpit clypeata of Shaw's Zoology (Leach 

 MSS.) ; Fpathulea clypeata of Fleming. The A. rubens of Qmelin is 

 said to be the young male, or a variety of the young male. It is 

 provincially termed Blue- Winged Shoveler, Kertlutock, and Broad 

 Bill 



The following is the description of a male killed at Fort Franklin 

 May, 1826 : Colour: head, adjoining half of the neck, medial stripe 

 to the interscapulars, the whole back, interior scapulars, and primaries 

 umber-brown ; sides of the head, the neck, and crest, glossed with 

 duck -green; rump and tail-coverts above and below, with blackish 

 green. Lower half of the neck, the breast, shoulders, shorter scapulars 

 ends of the greater coverts, and sides of the rump, white ; longer 

 scapulars striped with berlin-blue, white, and blackish-brown. Lesser 

 coverts berlin blue. Speculum brilliant grass-green, broadly bordere< 



HAT. HI8T. DIV. VOL. II. 



above, and narrowly edged below with white ; bounded interiorly 

 with greenish-black. Belly and flanks deep orange-brown, the latter 

 undulated posteriorly with black. Bill black. Legs orange. 



The bill is a little higher thau wide at the base, much depressed, 

 dilated, and rouuded at the end; mandibles furnished with long 

 lender crowded lumime, the upper ones acute and projecting, forming 

 an apparatus admirably fitted for sifting small insects from the water 



Bill of Shoveler (Anas clypeata). 



surface of the upper mandible pitted near its oblong unguis. Wings 

 scarcely an inch longer than the tail, which is graduated, moderately 

 acute, and consists of 1 4 acute feathers ; tarsus scarcely compressed ; 

 bind toe not lobed, and the outer-toe shorter than the middle one, 

 as in the rest of the Anatinte. 



The female is liver-brown above, with broad boarders of pale wood- 

 brown ; underneath pale wood-brown with obscure liver-brown marks. 

 She wants the dark brown and green colours of the head, rump, and 

 tail-coverts, the white of the neck, breast, sides of the rump, and 

 scapulars, and also the orange-brown of the belly ; the lesser coverts 

 are slightly glossed with berlin-blue, and the speculum is less vivid 

 than in the male. Length 21 inches 6 lines, &c. (Richardson.) The 

 weight is about 22 ounces. 



Temmiuck states that the young males in autumn, and the old 

 males during their moult, have some of the feathers proper to the 

 winter-plumage of the male, and others peculiar to the female, or to 

 the young male before the moult, and that these feathers are indis- 

 tinctly mingled. Young and old males in the summer-change are 

 supposed to be the origin of the Red-Breasted Shoveler. 



Shoveler (Anas clypeata). 



The trachea of the male is of equal diameter, excepting towards 

 the lower larynx, where it is very slightly enlarged. It forms a slight 

 bony protuberance on the left side, which is dilated a little below. 

 The bronchia; are very long. (Temminck.) 



It inhabits marshes, lakes, and rivers in Russia, and a great part 

 of Asia. It is very abundant in Holland. In France, Germany, and 

 England, it is a bird of passage, arriving in the British Islands gene- 

 rally about October, and departing about March. In England the 

 principal resorts of the species are the fens of Lincolnshire and 

 Cambridge. Bonaparte (' Specchio Comparative') notes it as one of 

 those birds common to the neighbourhoods of Rome and of Phila- 

 delphia, and as being rather common in both places in winter. 



2 E 



