300 



DUCK GROUP 



Shoveller 

 (Spatula clypeata 



From all other British ducks the shoveller and its 

 relatives arc readih' distinguished by the great 

 terminal expansion of the beak. As already 

 mentioned, there is, however, a slight approximation to this feature 

 in the garganey, which also agrees with the shoveller in its bluish-grey 

 upper wing-coverts.^ The beak, which exceeds the head in length, is 

 depressed and flattened, with the tip twice as broad as the base, the 

 edges of its upi)er half much turned down near the extremity, and the 



WABO STUDIOS 



SnOVKLLKK (DICK AM) DUAKI). 



transverse plates very numerous and very long, lioth the wings and 

 tail are pointed, and the latter carries fourteen feathers. Four species 

 of shoveller are known, of which all but the present are natives of the 

 southern hemisphere, where the group is also represented by a single 

 species referred to a separate genus, commonly known by the name 

 of JMalacorJiyncJnis?- In all the members of the group the sexes are 

 widel}' different in colouring ; but the non-breeding dress of the drake is 

 retained for a much longer i:)eriod than in most of the species described 

 above. 



in the case of such an unmistakable bird, description of the 



' On iJiif^L- 265 of vol. ii. of Sharpc's llatidhook lo Brilis/i lUids the shoveller is staled to 

 rcscmMe Nettiuni in pl.ice of Qiim/uidii/a in this res|iect. 

 - This name is preoccupied, and requires chanjjing. 



