108 The Water-fowl Family 



nary duck-hunter, not many are killed in this way. 

 Late fall and early winter finds the shoveller in the 

 Southwestern states and Mexico, going well into 

 the tropics. The male in his adult plumage is 

 one of our most beautiful ducks. The combina- 

 tion of light blue and white of the wing, with the 

 rich brown of the breast, is particularly striking. 

 The green head and rather large appearance cause 

 him sometimes at a distance to be confused with 

 the mallard, but when nearer the distinction is 

 readily made. In Mexico the shoveller, with the 

 gadwall and cinnamon teal, stay latest. In April, 

 1 90 1, I saw in a small pool near one of the ranches 

 in northern Mexico a flock of several hundred 

 shovellers, the large majority of them males. 

 They allowed close approach and continued to 

 preen their feathers, at times uttering a low gut- 

 tural quack. The brilliant coloring of these birds 

 in the bright sunlight was a splendid sight. This 

 small pond was the only water for twenty miles, 

 and the Mexicans informed us they arrived in 

 small relays in March, staying until May. Late 

 in May, near Chihuahua, shovellers were numerous. 

 At this time they were mated. A number of males, 

 shot then, showed evidence of a beginning of change 

 in plumage. The lagoons of the Gulf Coast of 

 Mexico are the winter resort of great numbers of 

 these birds, as well as the bays of California and 

 the Pacific Coast of Mexico. This bird is common 



