ANATIN^ — THE DUCKS — SPATULA. 



527 



/ 



|lpit;n«'A,\v,-iiiu:ii,r, 



ones dark gray, edged with white. Bill deep black ; iris bright yellow ; legs and feet beautiful 

 orange-red. Adult female : Wings as in the male, but colors rather duller. Other parts grayish 

 brown above, varied with brownish 

 white ; brownish white below, the 

 head and neck streaked, the breast, 

 abdomen, etc., spotted, with grayish 

 brown. Bill brown, mandible or- 

 ange ; iris yellow and feet orange- 

 red, as in the male. Yoiong male : 

 Similar to the adult female, but 

 lower parts (always?) tinged with 

 chestnut. Young female : Similar to 

 the adult, but wing-coverts dull 

 slate, with little, if any, blue tinge, 

 the speculum dusky, with a \-ery 

 faint green reflection, and rather 

 broadly tipped with brownish white. 

 Downy young : Above, grayish 

 brown, with a brownish-white spot 

 on each side of the back, and a cor- 

 responding pair on the rump ; pile- 

 um darker than the back and nape ; 

 head (except pileum) and entire 

 lower parts pale grayish fulvous, 

 or dirty grayish bufty white, shaded 

 with brownish gray across the jugu- 

 lum ; a narrow stripe of dark brown 

 from the upper angle of the base 

 of the bill to the eye, and contin- 

 ued posteriorly about half way to 

 the occiput ; another similar stripe 



beneath the last, beginning a little behind the posterior border of the eye, and extending farther 

 back than the one above it. [Described from No. 65561, Souris R., Dakota, Aug. 10, 1873 ; Dr. 



E. CouES, U. S. A.] 



Total length, about 20.00 inches ; ex- 

 tent, 31.00 to 33.00 inches ; wing, 9.00- 

 10.00 ; culmen, 2.60-2.90 ; width of bill 

 at end, 1.10-1.20, at base, .60 ; tarsus, 1.40- 

 1.50; middle toe, 1.65-1.75. Specimens 

 vary considerably in colors : usually the 

 white of the chest and scapulars is nearly 

 or cjuite immaculate ; but not infrequently 

 these portions are more or less spotted with 

 dusky. The chestnut of the abdomen is 

 sometimes immaculate, sometimes barred 

 with dusky. 



The Shoveller Duck, while no- 

 where conspicuously numerous, ap- 

 pears to have the most extended 

 distribution of any species of the 

 Female. Duck tribe. It is found throughout 



North and Central America as far to 

 the south as Panama ; is more or less common in every portion of Europe and Asia, 



Male. 



