528 LAMELLIROSTRAL SWIMMERS — ANSERES. 



except in the extreme north ; is found in Nortliern and Central Africa ; and is said 

 to liave been taken even in South Africa and in Australia; but the evidence in this 

 regard is not wholly satisfactory. 



Mr. Salvin found it inhul)iting the Lake of Duenas during the winter, where it 

 remained until about tiie end of .March. Colonel (Jrayson met with it on the western 

 coast of Mexico, and Dr. Palmer obtaint'd it at Guaynuis. The fornuu- speaks of it 

 as very common about Mazatlan from Xovenil)er to May. According to Dr. Cooper, 

 the Shoveller, or, as there called, the '• Spoon-bill Duck,*' is common in winter along 

 the entire coast of California and throughout the interior, as far nortii as the Colum- 

 bia, wherever the fresli water to which it resorts is not frozen over. Jt arrives from 

 the north about tlie 1st of October, and remains until March or April, associating 

 with other fresli-water Ducks. It is generally silent, and has at all times but a 

 feeble voice. Its food (consists of the same vegetable and animal substances as those 

 eaten by the allied species ; but this bird has the advantage of a more expanded and 

 sensitive bill as a helj) in finding them, and eonsecpieutly becomes very fat ; its tiesh 

 is also consitlered well flavored. 



From tlie late Mr. Uobert Keunicott's manuserij)ts we take the following: "Tliough 

 the Shoveller goes in smumer nearly or (jiiite as far to the north as Ihifihi acuta, a 

 larger proportion nest farther south. A few breed within the United States ; and 

 Dr. Hoy menti(ms it as sometimes nesting in S(mtlicrn Wisconsin. At Slave Lake I 

 first observed it about the middli' of May. when tliey had already paired. It is highly 

 probable that they arrived earlier, but from their small nund)ers escape attention. A 

 pair comnuauu'd nesting at the Vukon about the L'dth of May. I found it rather rare 

 at the north, tlu)Ugh less so west of tlu' mountains than in the Mackenzie Region. 1 

 did not see more tlian a pair of old birds together at any time. The few specimens 

 observed were usually feeding in sliallow water near the shore ; though they appeared 

 to seek the grassy sjiots less tlian the other fresli-water Ducks." 



^Ir. liannister states that tliis species was frecpuMitly seen by him among the 

 birds brouglit in by tlie hunters of the Fort, during the month of May, at St. Michael's. 

 Mr. Dall was informed tiiat it l)reeds at one point in the strait between St. ^liduiel's 

 and the nuiinland. He obtained only a single skin at Unalaklik ; and thinks this 

 bird cannot be abunchiut anywhere near the Yukon. 



Dr. Ricluirdstm states that this sjiecies chiefly frequents the clear lakes of the 

 northern districts, and breeds in the Harren (irounds; but is found in consid- 

 erable numbers, in spring and autumn, in the nu)re .southern wooded districts. 

 Captain Blakiston procured specimens from Hudson's liay, and also from the Sas- 

 katchewan ; and it was foinid on the Mackenzie River, Avithin the Arctic Circle, by 

 Mr. Bernard Ross. 



Major Wedderburn mentions the capture of a single sjtecin en in Bermuda in 

 December, 1844. It is also recorded ns occurring in several of the West India 

 Islands, Dr. (Jundlach noting it as a visitor to ('uba, Mr. Riisse as having been found 

 in St. Thomas, and Lcotaud as being (piite a regular winter visitant to Trinidad. 

 In th(^ latter place it arrives in December or January, and leaves in Ajtril or May. 

 It occurs rarely in flocks ; and its flesh, owing probably to some local food wliieh 

 impairs its flavor, is not favorably regarded. 



It does not appear to be at all abunthmt on any part of the eastern coast of the 

 United States. It occurs in small ninidters, in spring and fall, in the neigld)orhood 

 of Calais, but is not recorded from farther north, it is found occasionally in the fall 

 in Massachusetts, but is not recorded as occurring there in the spring. Two were 

 shot at Rye Beaeli in Augiist, 1872. 



