SHOVELER. 



A THOROUGHLY cosmopolitan species, the Shov- 

 eler, or Spoonbill as it is often called, is found pretty 

 much everywhere throughout the Northern Hemisphere, 

 and may penetrate possibly into the limits of the South- 

 ern also, although there, in different parts, it is replaced 

 by other species of the genus. In North America it is 

 generally distributed, but is not common on the eastern 

 coast, and breeds from Alaska to Texas. It is a fresh- 

 water Duck, and is fond of resorting to inland lakes and 

 streams, and seeks places overgrown with plants and 

 rushes, feeding on seeds, insects, and such food as it 

 is able successfully to sift through its heavily fringed 

 bill, being more generously provided in this respect than 

 almost any other Duck. The Shoveler is usually seen 

 in flocks, some of considerable size, and, when in the air, 

 its long, sharp-pointed wings with their wide expanse 

 give the bird the appearance of being much larger than^ 

 it really is. In Alaska, as would naturally be expected, 

 the Shoveler is not common along the sea-coast, but 

 breeds in the interior, and is rather abundant in certain 

 portions of the Yukon. It has also been met with on 

 the Commander Islands, and in Kamchatka. When 

 about the marshes, or moving over the inland lakes and 

 coasting along the shores, the Spoonbill is readily recog- 

 nized by its flight, which is more like that of a Teal, al- 

 though much less swift, and is performed in an irregular, 

 hesitating kind of way, as if the bird was uncertain just 

 where to go, and it moves in and out among coves and 



