128 
BIRDS OF NEW MEXICO 
followed her mate. He swam first at one and then another, after each 
chase returning to his mate and bowing rapidly, while occasionally she 
bowed to him in return” (1920a, p. 242). 
On an alkaline lake in southern California, we once found Cinnamon 
Teals feeding with the Mallards and Gadwalls, looking very small by 
comparison. They were surprisingly tame, coming up as I noted, 
“ within a few yards of us, looking up at us curiously as we talked to 
them.” And near the lake shore a brooding duck was flushed from 
her nest—a hollow in the ground encircled by dusky down from her 
breast—both nest and eggs being almost entirely hidden by the high 
soft yellow grass. At our second visit we found that “the yellow grass 
had been combed up and drawn in at the top with cunning art to conceal 
its enclosed treasures. Walking up softly and speaking in low tones 
we were able to get so near that we could see the eye of the brooding 
bird as well as the fine brown pencilling of her head and breast, and the 
blue speculum of her wing.” At our third visit, under the edge of one 
wing “we discovered a protuding patch of yellow down. Misinter¬ 
preting our excited comments, after a courageous stand she burst away 
from almost under our hands, coming down in the grass a few yards 
away, waddling along dragging her wings in appealing decoy. Turning 
our backs we hurried guiltily down the beach. When we ventured to 
look back she was swimming around on the lake, picking about with 
apparent indifference; but even as we watched over our shoulders, 
back she swam, straight for the shore. IIow fast she went! When 
nearly there she stopped and took one last look at us, then quickly 
climbed up the bank and across the beach to the nest” (1917b, pp. 
158-159). 
Additional Literature.—Bent, A. C., U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 126, 122-130, 
1923.— Bryant, H. C., Condor, XVI, 222-223, 1914.— Rockwell, R. B., Condor, 
XI, 112, 1909; XIII, 128, 1911. 
SHOVELLER: Spatula clypeata (Linnaeus) 
Description .— Length: 17-21 inches, wing 9-10, bill 2.6-2.9, width of bill 
at end 1.1-1.2, at base .6, tarsus 1.4-1.5. Weight: 1 lb. to 1J^ lbs. (Leopold). 
Bill widened and rounded at end; laminae numerous and protrusive. Adult male in 
winter and breeding plumage: Head metallic green (black in a poor light); medium 
upperparts slaty bordered widely with white of scapulars; rump, and upper tail 
coverts black, tail feathers brown, conspicuously edged with white; wing with 
blue patch, white bar, and green speculum; axillars and wing linings mostly white; 
belly maroon between two while areas —white of breast and white patches under base 
of tail iris yellow or orange, bill blackish, legs and feet orange-red. Adult male in 
eclipse plumage: Without green, white, or maroon; plumage similar to female; 
brown, coarsely marked with dusky (Millais). Intermediate plumage: Head 
dark but not metallic, white of breast obscured by transverse bars. Adult female: 
Head and upperparts brown, feathers edged with ashy or buffy and those of back 
irregularly barred; wing like male but duller, speculum with less green, and with 
two white bars; breast spotted, belly usually more or less rusty; tail edged with 
