THE SHOVELLER 



By T. GILBERT PEARSON 



THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF AUDUBON SOCIETIES 

 Educational Leaflet No. 84 



The most characteristic feature of the Shoveller is its great bill, 

 which measures about two and a half inches long and nearly one and 

 a quarter inches in width. Spoon-bill is the name by which this duck 

 is known to many gunners; other names are Swabble-bill, Shovel-bill, 

 and Cow-frog. Despite its large bill, which seems entirely out of all 

 proportion to the size of the bird, the male Shoveller is a particularly 

 beautiful Duck, and because of its striking green head 

 and reddish belly it is sometimes mistaken for a male Plumage 



Mallard. The female, although she has an equally 

 large bill, is not adorned with the bright plumage of her mate in 

 fact, it is a common characteristic among water-fowl that the female 

 wears a more somber plumage than does the drake. 



Throughout the eastern and central United States Shovellers are 

 rarely seen in summer. They begin to arrive from the North upon the 

 approach of cold weather, usually among the first Ducks to appear, and 

 frequently are found in company with Teals or Pintails. To see them 

 one should go to such fresh-water or brackish-water marshes as are 

 common along the Atlantic Coast from Maryland southward. In the 

 lower Mississippi Valley Shovellers are very plentiful, and they occur 

 also in large numbers at many places on the Pacific Coast. Some indi- 

 viduals go as far south as Central America. 



The student does not progress far in the study of wild-fowl before 

 he discovers that the family Anatidce is divided into five sub-families, 

 one of which is known as "River and Pond Ducks." To this group 

 belong the Mallard, Black Duck, Pintail, Gadwall, Widgeon, Shoveller, 

 and our three American Teals. They are grouped 

 ti.^i-tlier under this title because of their habit of 

 feeding in the shallow backwaters of rivers, ponds, 

 and lakes, and in marshes. The "Bay and Sea Ducks," which constitute 

 another sub-family, are usually found in deep water, and frequently dive 

 many yards for their food. 



If you slip up to a Shoveller while he is getting his breakfast, you 

 will find him dabbling in water usually but a few inches deep. Here he 

 will skim the surface, catching such insects and larvae as may happen 

 to be floating by; and from the mud he will collect seeds, and such 

 edible animal-matter as crustaceans and small mollusks. Sometimes 

 the bird will "tip up" while feeding, In this way it can reach down- 



