A/ESTS AND EGGS OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 1043 



755. — Spatcla clypkata, Liniiseus. — (589) 



COMMON SHOVELLER. 



Figure. — Gould : Birds of Great Britain, vol. v., pi. 14. 

 Reference.— Ca.i. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. xxvii., p. 306. 

 Previous Deicrifiions of Eggs.—'Le^%%e. : Birds of Ceylon, p. 1091 

 (iSSo); Campbell: Southern Science Record (18S3) ; others. 



('•eographical Distribution. — South Queonslaud and New South 

 Wales (accidental) ; also many parts of both old and new worlds, breeding 

 as far north as latitude 68 deg. 



]\'est. — Merely a hole scratched in the soil, lined with grass and a 

 quantity of down ; usually near water, amongst herbage or under a low 

 bush (Butler). The nest-down is small, dark-browi. with small, plainly- 

 defined whitish centres, without pale tips (Legge). 



E<j(js. — Clutch, nine to twelve usually, fourteen maximrun ; roimdish 

 oval in shape, or elliptically inclined ; texture of shell somewhat 

 fine ; surf;R'e glossy and greasy ; coloiu-, dull greenish-white. Dimensions 

 in inches of a pair o- a clutch : (1) 2-0.'') x 1-4G, (2) 2-02 x 1-5. 



0/i>!eriYifiiins. — Gould \vrite.s : — " Althougli I have nO' Australian skin 

 of this species to confinn the following remarks, I must ask my ornitho- 

 logical readers, both in Australia and Etu'opc, to take my word for the 

 occasional appearance of this bird in Australia. When I visited New 

 South Wales during the rainy season of 1839, all the depressed parts 

 of tlie land were filled with water, and the lagoons here, there, and every- 

 where, were tenanted by luuidreds of Ducks of various species, and 

 every now and tiien one, two, or more beatilifullv phimaged Shovellers 

 were seen amongst them ; but I did not succeed in shooting one of them, 

 and mu.st have left the matter in doubt as to the particular species if 

 the late Mr. Coxen, of Yarnindi, had not had the skin of a splendid 

 old male in his possession, which he had himself shot, and which, after 

 a careful examination, I foiuid to be identical with the Sj^utuln clyijentn 

 of Britain and the European Continent. Misfortune, I regret to say, 

 attended Mr. Coxen's specimen, for a. day or two afterwards a rat or 

 some other kind of vennin entered the room in which it was kept, ate 

 off its bill and legs, and so otherwise mutilated the sldn as to render 

 it useless. The debris would still have been saved had I not hoped and 

 felt assured of obtaining other examples with my gun ; this hope, how- 

 ever, was never realized. 



" To this subject, therefore, I recommend the attention of those in 

 Australia, who will doubtless meet with the bird some /day when the 

 coimtry is subject to a partial inimdation. That this species should 

 extend its wanderings to AiLstralia is not a matter of siu-prise, when we 

 know that it has been found within the tropics, both in the old and 

 new worlds." 



