20 SPATULA CLYPEATA 



a rule, frequent the dirty holes in which a pair of Shovellers often pass the entire 

 winter, sticking to their cess-pool (for it is really, as the season advances, little 

 short of this) so long as a bucketful of liquid filth and mud remains." 



Of course the above description applies to a somewhat extreme case. Filth is not 

 an essential of its haunts, but soft slimy mud rather than mere abundance of the clean 

 pond-weeds and sedges is what it seems to require. It is usually found on the coasts 

 only accidentally during migration, or perhaps in very severe weather, but it does 

 show a great liking for fresh or brackish waters close to the seashore. One observer 

 has found it frequenting a salt-marsh near Haywards, California, and even nesting 

 there (Emerson, 1901). 



Wariness. The Shoveller, like the Blue-winged and Cinnamon Teals, is a very 

 tame duck, over all parts of its range. More than this, it is an extremely foolish bird 

 where wooden decoys are concerned, and will come up like Teal, without showing 

 any suspicion. Like Teal, too, the Shoveller is apt to be found in the vicinity of 

 dwellings, and many sportsmen have remarked that they are less likely than other 

 ducks to rise from a marsh on the report of a gun. 



Daily Movements. In spite of the minute character of some of its diet, the Shovel- 

 ler is well able to feed by night, particularly on moonlight nights. The food is pro- 

 bably selected much more by the sense of touch than by sight. Some writers (A. E. 

 Brehm, 1879; Millais, 1902) have considered this species more active at night than 

 any of the other surface-feeders. 



Gait, Swimming, Diving. The general shape of the bird gives it a very clumsy 

 and unattractive appearance, but in spite of the huge bill, the gait and carriage 

 differ little from those of other shoal-water ducks. The neck is rather short, and on 

 the water the Shoveller keeps the head well drawn in, with the bill often resting on 

 the surface. It is perhaps more strictly a surface-feeder than any other duck, al- 

 though it dives expertly when young, and moderately well when wounded. In the 

 Province of Hanover young Shovellers have often been found in eel-pots resting on 

 bottom in water four feet deep (Ziemer, 1886, p. 376). 



Although they feed mostly by skimming and dabbling close to the surface or in 

 very shallow places, the Mallard-like tipping is occasionally indulged in. When feed- 

 ing in this way they are said to retain the position for a shorter time than the Mal- 

 lard and to hold themselves less perpendicularly (Gundlach, 1 875) . I do not remember 

 ever having seen Shovellers obtain food in this way, but I have no doubt that they 

 do so. Actual diving for food on the bottom has been noted by A. Chapman (1916) 

 among wild birds resorting to the ponds of the Zoological Gardens at Cairo, where 

 I have myself seen hundreds of these ducks during the spring migration. 



