66 



AN AUSTRALIAN BIRD BOOK. 



2 136*Aiistralian Shoveller, Bluewing, Spoonbill-Duck, Stin- 

 4 ker, Kuruwhengi, Spatula rhynchotis. A., T., N.Z., 



=vt. Eur. Shoveller. Nom. v.r. freshwater 21.5 



Crown brownish-black; white line before eye, side of 

 neck; head, neck gray tinged green; under chestnut- 

 brown mottled black; flanks chestnut banded black; 

 back-feathers blackish edged grayish; blue, white, 

 green on wing; throat black; quills dark-brown; under- 

 wing white; f., duller; head, neck buff marked brown; 

 under mottled brown, buff. Water-plants, shellfish, 

 insects. 



of Iceland and the Logger-head, Racehorse, or Steamer Duck, of 

 Magellan Straits, which is said to lose the power of flight on reach- 

 ing maturity after the first moult. Thus the life-history tells 

 us that this bird is a degenerate form, and not a primitive flight- 

 less form, for it has evidently descended from flying ancestors. 

 It uses its wings to row itself along at great speed. 



The ninth sub-family of this group of swimming birds contains 

 two native Ducks. The Blue-billed Duck, the first of these, is 

 "especially adapted for immersion and for obtaining its food 

 from the bottom of the water rather than on its surface." It 

 was thought by Gould to be confined to the coastal lagoons of 

 Western Australia, but it has since been recorded from inland in 

 Victoria, and four specimens have been taken in Tasmania. It 

 remains under the water for a considerable time, and, if hunted, 



