503 



one point in the canal, between the Island of St. Michael and the mainland. I have never seen 

 it alive, but obtained a skin from one killed at Unalaklik. It cannot be abundant anywhere near 

 the Yukon ;" and Mr. Bannister frequently " saw this species among the birds brought in by the 

 hunters of the Fort during the month of May, at St. Michael's." Captain Blakiston records speci- 

 mens " from the Saskatchewan and Hudson's Bay ; also from Great Bear Lake and the Arctic 

 Circle, on the Mackenzie." Mr. Allen speaks of it as found on the Great Salt Lake ; and the 

 various American authors record it from most parts of the United States. I did not meet with it 

 in Texas, though Audubon speaks of it as common there in the whiter season ; but Messrs. Sclater 

 and Salvin record it from Central America as " inhabiting the Lake of Duenas during the winter, 

 and departing towards the end of March ;" and Dr. Sclater writes, " Mr. Gould informs me that 

 he has recently examined specimens of this bird killed near Bogota. Its occurrence as far south 

 as Nicaragua has already been noticed by Prince Bonaparte " (Notes Orn. p. 94). To this I may 

 add that Mr. A. von Frantzius records it from Costa Rica. It has been met with on Cuba by 

 Dr. Gundlach, and also on Bermuda and Jamaica. 



Though more particularly a freshwater Duck, still the Shoveller is met with not unfrequently 

 on the coast ; but it does not appear at home there, and is more generally found on any sheets of 

 fresh water which are in the open country, especially those which, being overgrown with aquatic 

 plants, give a secure hiding-place to it, and places where the waters have overflowed and covered 

 the country for some distance. It is not particularly shy, and often frequents places where it 

 may be approached by using caution ; but it does not appear to herd in such large flocks as many 

 other Ducks appear to do. 



It feeds on seeds of various kinds of water-plants, grain, and in the spring various kinds of 

 water-insects, some of which are excessively small ; and the peculiar fringe on each side of the 

 mandibles is especially useful in expelling the water which it takes in with the minute insects, 

 which are gathered on the surface of the water and retained, when the water is expelled, by this 

 comb-like fringe. 



Audubon, writing on its habits in the United States, says that " the Creoles of Louisiana are 

 well acquainted with this species under the name of ' Micoine,' the etymology of which I am 

 unable to trace. In that country it arrives both from the westward and from the eastern inland 

 districts, along with the Blue-winged Teal, or at the commencement of autumn. It associates 

 with that species, to which, as well as the Green-winged, the Mallard, the Dusky Duck, and the 

 Gadwall, I should consider it very nearly allied, notwithstanding the peculiar expansion of its 

 bill. The Shovellers remain in the lower parts of Louisiana during the whole of the winter, and 

 depart along with the Blue-wings between the end of April and the middle of May. There, in 

 early spring, they resort chiefly to ponds, where they feed on grasses and their seeds, as well as 

 at times a small kind of onion, the bulbs of which they pull up from the moist grounds on their 

 margins. This may perhaps to some seem strange ; but I have long since made up my mind to 

 learn from nature, and believe what is, rather than what philosophers imagine ought to be. 

 Having fed through the night, they collect towards dawn into large bands, and betake themselves 

 to the margins of sand-bars on the Mississippi, where they spend the greater part of the day. 

 At other times I have found them swimming or wading along the muddy margins of ponds and 

 streams, immersing the head and part of the neck, while alternately moving the bill to either 



3t 



