SHOVELLER 



^01 



plumage seems almost superfluous, although for the sake of uniformity 

 this is briefly given. The shoveller-drake is a medium -sized bird, 

 measuring about 20 inches in length, and weighing from i^ lbs. to 

 1 1 lbs. Dark green is the colour of the head and neck, in marked 

 contrast to which is a white gorget on the upper part of the breast 

 encircling the commencement of the back, followed by rich chestnut on 

 the lower part of the breast, and this again by the white of the 

 abdomen ; the feathers of the middle of the back are dull black with 

 white margins ; the wing-coverts are pale bluish-grey, with the exception 

 of the greater coverts, which are white, and form a bar in front of the 

 green " speculum " ; the under tail-coverts are black ; the beak is lead- 

 colour ; the eye is yellow ; and the legs and feet are orange. At the 

 close of the breeding-season the drake assumes the non-breeding dress, 

 when the breast and neck become brown, with spots of a darker shade, 

 and the rest of the plumage, with the exception of the bluish wing- 

 coverts, like that of the drake, which is uniformly pale wood-brown on 

 the upper-parts, with darker centres to the feathers, the wing-coverts 

 varying from grey to greyish brown, and the "speculum" faint. In 

 autumn this plumage begins to be exchanged in the drake for the full 

 breeding-dress, but it is stated that the change is not completed till 

 the following February, either the green feathers of the head and neck 

 or the white of the breast, or both together, not being acquired till that 

 date.^ If this be correct, the male shoveller is not far removed from 

 the wader-type, as regards the period during which the full breeding- 

 plumage is worn. Young birds resemble the female in general 

 colouring but have the wings brighter. The duckling, whose down is 

 uniformly brown above, is very similar in general appearance to the 

 young of other species, the expansion of the terminal end of the beak 

 not taking place till three weeks or so after hatching. 



The shoveller ranges, inclusive of its migrations, over the greater 

 part of the northern hemisphere, although not usually found north of 

 latitude 68' or south of latitude 10^^ ; but the breeding-area is mainly 

 restricted to the north temperate zone. From this breeding-tract it 

 wanders southwards to Panama, the Mediterranean countries, India, 

 Ceylon, the Upper Irawadi, and China. On one occasion it is stated 

 to have been found breeding in Ceylon, but otherwise it is not known 

 to nest south of the Himalaya. To the British Islands the shoveller 

 is a regular winter-visitor, and a certain number of pairs remain to 

 breed, alike in England, Scotland, and Ireland. It breeds perhaps 

 more numerously in Ireland than elsewhere, nests having been recorded 



1 Blanford, Fauna of British India — Birds, vol. iv. p. 453. 



