The Shoveler {Spatula clypeata) 



Synonyms. — Spoon-bill Duck ; Broad-bill. 



Description. — Adult male: Head and neck sooty black, overlaid, especially 

 above, with glossy green and glancing metallic blue or purple ; lower neck and 

 fore-breast pure white ; lower breast, belly, and sides purplish chestnut, the longer 

 side-feathers dusky-barred ; back, narrowly, greenish dusky, becoming greenish 

 black on rump and behind, and glossy green on sides of upper tail-coverts ; crissum 

 black, separated from belly anteriorly by white, finely undulated with dusky ; white 

 flank-patches ; inner scapulars white, and inner tertiaries white-striped ; wing- 

 coverts and outer webs of outer tertiaries light grayish blue ; the posterior row of 

 coverts greenish dusky at base, broadly white-tipped ; speculum glossy green 

 bounded on either side by dusky; primaries dusky; axillars and lining of wing 

 white ; bill spatulate, the upper mandible much broader at tip than lower and 

 enclosing it; lamellae prominent, deep black; feet orange-red; iris brown. Adult 

 female: Wings much as in male, but duller; scapulars like back and tertiaries not 

 striped ; upper parts, except head and neck, plain fuscous glossed posteriorly with 

 greenish ; remaining plumage buffy or bufify white, spotted with brownish fuscous ; 

 head and neck narrowly streaked with dusky ; lower breast tinged with brownish ; 

 bill brown above, orange below. Young male: Like adult female but colors 

 heavier, and belly tinged with chestnut. Young female: Similar to adult but 

 wing-coverts dull slaty gray, only faintly tinged with bluish or greenish ; speculum 

 not so extensively glossy green. Length 17.00-21.00 (431.8-533.4); wing 9.00- 

 10.00 (228.6-254.) ; tail 3.00-3.50 (76.2-88.9) ; culmen 2.50-2.90 (63.5-73.7) ; 

 breadth of bill near tip 1.20 (30.5) ; tarsus 1.50 (38.1). 



Recognition Marks. — Smaller than mallard ; bill broadened at tip distinctive ; 

 male with white breast and rich chestnut belly. 



Nest, on the ground in or near swamp, lined with weed-stalks and grasses, or 

 reeds. Eggs, 6-10, pale bluish or greenish gray. Av. size, 2.12x1.48 (53.9x37.6). 



Range. — Northern Hemisphere. In North America breeding from Alaska to 

 Texas ; not abundant on the Atlantic Coast north of the Carolinas. 



Fortunately the Spoonbill Duck bears about with it a ready mark of identifi- 

 cation, so that the diminishing numbers which appear in March or early April do 

 not escape the notice of the ornithologist. The broad flattened bill indicates that 

 its possessor is a gourmet of discriminating taste and unique opportunity. Most 

 of the river ducks are obliged to depend more or less upon the senses of touch 

 and taste rather than sight as they encounter food below the surface of the water, 

 but in the case of the Shoveler these senses are developed to an extraordinary 

 degree. The bird evidently feeds somewhat after the manner of the Right Whale, 

 by filling its mouth at random and then ejecting the water through the mouth- 

 parts, to retain in the lamell.'e whatever is of value. The tongue of the duck is 

 also modified, being provided with specialized taste papillae to enable it to dis- 

 criminate meat from poison; while as for plain dirt, the bird is probably willing 

 to take its traditional peck any given day. Insects and vegetable matter, as well as 



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