1 HE SHOVELERS. 265 



mother, who shams to be wounded, so as to draw off attention 

 from the young, while Dr. Henderson states that he saw a 

 female make all her young ones dive, by swimming and 

 flapping on to each of them as soon as it showed itself above 

 water, after which she pretended to be wounded, and lay 

 on the water every now and then, with wings spread out, as 

 if unable to fly. It is evident that the old birds, breeding in 

 cliffs so high above the water, must convey the young to the 

 latter. The food of the Ruddy Sheld-Duck consists of grass 

 and water-plants, as well as small molluscs. 



Nest. — This is placed in a variety of situations, in a ])urrow, 

 in the middle of a corn-field, in the cleft of a precipice, or, 

 in Eastern Siberia, in the deserted nest of a bird of prey. 



Eggs. — From nine to as many as sixteen in number, and 

 creamy-white, with scarcely any gloss. Axis, 27-2 85; diam., 

 I ■85-1-9. The colour of the down in the nest has not yet 

 been described. 



THE SHOVELERS. GENUS SPATULA. 



Spatula, Boie, Isis, 1822, p. 564. 



' Type, S. clypeata (L.). 



Tiie Shovelers are very easily distinguished by their flat 

 and shovel-like bills, and in their plumage they resemble 

 the true Ducks, especially the Teal, having blue wing-coverts 

 like some of the members of the genus Nettion. Two genera 

 of Shoveler Ducks are known, the genus Spatula containing 

 four species, of which our English S. clypeata is the best 

 known and the most widely distributed ; S. 7'hy?ichotis comes 

 from Australia and New Zealand, S. platalea from S. America, 

 and S. capensis from South Africa. Their range is, therefore, 

 nearly cosmopolitan. In Australia and Tasmania another 

 curious genus of Shovelers is found, Malacorhynchns, with a 

 single species, M. membranaceus^ confined to the countries 

 above-mentioned. 



I. THE SHOVELER. SPATULA CLYPEATA. 



Anas clypeata, Linn. S. N. i. p. 200 (1766) ; Seebohm, Br. B. 

 iii. p. 554 (18S5) ; Lilford, Col. Fig. Br. B. part x. 

 (1889). 



