SHOVELLER. 
301 
birds visit the small fresh-water lakes and marshes near the 
sea in Massachusetts, and in the course of the winter continue 
south to the extremity of the Union, penetrating into Mexico 
and along the coast of the Gulf to Vera Cruz, and perhaps still 
farther, in quest of subsistence and shelter from the cold. 
Soon after March, according to Baillon, they disperse through 
the fens in France to breed, and select the same places with 
the Summer Teal, choosing, with them, large tufts of rushes, 
making a nest of withered grass in the most boggy and diffi- 
cult places of access, near waters. The young, in consequence 
of the great disproportion of the bill, at that period, have a 
most uncouth and awkward appearance, seeming to be op- 
pressed by its weight, and perpetually inclined to rest it upon 
the breast. They run about and swim, however, as soon as 
hatched, and are carefully attended by the parent, who inces- 
santly guards them from the surprise of ravenous birds. On 
these occasions, when the danger becomes unavoidable, the 
young are seen to squat silently among the grass, while the 
old birds run off and dive. The cry of this species has been 
compared to that of a rattle turned by small jerks in the hand. 
The Shoveller is considered one of the most tender and 
delicate-flavored Ducks, growing very fat in winter. Its 
usual food is said to be small fish and insects, — rarely vege- 
tables and seeds. In a pair of the young which I examined, 
that were killed in Fresh Pond, in this vicinity, the stomach 
contained many fragments of a very delicate divaricated small 
green Fucus, minute Sdrpi plucked up by the roots, also frag- 
ments of some Chara, with minute Natica and Anomia shells 
quite comminuted, and a portion of gravel. We see, therefore, 
that the remarkable structure of the bill in this species is no 
way generally indicative of any peculiar habit of feeding. The 
labyrinth in the trachea of the male is small, and its voice 
probably proportionately feeble. 
This beautiful bird, with its strangely shaped bill, is but rarely 
seen along the Atlantic coast north of Connecticut, though, like 
others of our water-fowl, it is well-known to gunners and sports- 
men in more southern .shooting resorts. 
