SHOVELEH 245 



Shoveler. 



Spatula clypeata. 



Bill lead-colour, very broad at the tip; head and upper neck 

 green ; lower neck and scapulars white ; middle of the back dark 

 brown ; shoulders pale blue ; greater wing-coverts white ; second- 

 aries dark brown with a green speculum ; primaries, rump, upper 

 and imder tail-coverts, and tail-feathers, blackish ; breast and belly 

 rich chestnut ; flanks freckled with dark brown on a paler groimd ; 

 vent white ; legs and feet reddish orange. Length, twenty inches- 

 Female : brown with dark and light mottlings. In summer, the 

 male in moulting assumes the colours of the female. 



The shoveler is the handsomest of the British freshwater ducks, 

 and the most singular in appearance, on account of the great breadth 

 of its spoon-like bill. Its plumage also, although beautiful, strikes 

 one as somewhat singular ; for it is rare to find pale and delicate 

 hues, like those on the wings and upper parts of this duck, together 

 with a deep, rich colouring, as on the head, upper neck, and 

 imder parts. The pale blue and pure white contrast beautifully 

 with the deep green and chestnut -brown. Another most interesting 

 point in the shoveler's history is its distribution. There is but one 

 shoveler duck in the northern hemisphere, over which it has an 

 immense range, including Europe, North Africa, Asia, and North 

 America from Alaska to Panama. But in the southern hemi- 

 sphere there are four other species, occupying respectively the four 

 following widely separated regions — South America, South Africa, 

 Australia, and New Zealand. 



The shoveler is a winter visitor to the British Islands ; it also 

 breeds sparingly in some locahties in the Midlands, in East Anglia, 

 and the northern counties ; also in the Hebrides, and in one or two 

 spots in Ireland. It is a very early breeder, placing its nest, lined 

 with dry grass and down, on the ground, usually near the water, and 

 it lays eight to fourteen eggs, pale greenish buff in colour. 



In the breeding season it utters a low quack, but at other timea 

 is a silent bird. 



