52 BIRDS OF ALABAMA 



vember 7, 1915, and about 6 were seen, November 30 to 

 December 1, in the bayous at Nigger Lake. 



General habits. — This species is sometimes known as the 

 "summer teal" because of the fact that it leaves its summer 

 home quite early in fall and returns late in spring. It travels 

 usually in rather large flocks and is partial to fresh-water 

 lakes and ponds, especially such as contain wild rice and other 

 seed-bearing plants. It is not especially shy and is easily 

 decoyed by the gunner. 



Food habits. — About seven-tenths of the food of the blue- 

 winged teal consists of vegetable matter and about three- 

 tenths of animal matter. Of the vegetable matter, seeds of 

 sedges furnish the largest part (18 per cent) with seeds, 

 stems, and leaves of pondweeds (including widgeon grass) 

 next in importance, forming over 12 per cent. Various wild 

 grasses, including wild rice, are frequently eaten, and culti- 

 vated rice is occasionally taken, but usually at a season when 

 such grain is undoubtedly waste. Smartweeds furnish about 

 8 per cent of the food, and many other plants are consumed 

 to a lesser extent. The animal content of the food, amounting 

 to nearly 30 per cent, consists mainly of snails (16.8 per cent) , 

 insects (10 per cent), and crustaceans (1.9 per cent). The 

 insects most frequently taken are the larvae of caddisflies, 

 nymphs of damselflies and dragonflies, and various species 

 of beetles.f 



SHOVELER; SPOONBILL: Spatula clypeata (Linnaeus). 



State records. — The shoveler, or "spoonbill," is a fairly com- 

 mon migrant and winter visitant. Avery records it from 

 Greensboro, as occurring in spring, never in large numbers, 

 arriving about the first of March; and McCormack speaks 

 of it as uncommon at Leighton, "found usually in pairs or 

 small parties of 3 or 4, seldom in large flocks, and frequents 

 small ponds and flooded bottoms, feeding close to the edge 

 like the teal ;" he observed it on March 21 and April 1, 1890, 

 and March 12, 1891. It is reported by gunners from Mont- 

 gomery, M-obile Bay, and Orange Beach. One was seen near 



fMabbott, D. C, Bull. 862, U. S. Dept. Agr., pp. 22-28, 1920. 



