SHOVELER 



«4i 



Bill of Shoveleh. (After Swainson.) 



Shovelard, a word by which used to be meant the l)ird now 

 almost invariably called Spoonbill, but in the latter half of the 

 17th century transferred to one hitherto generally, and in these 

 days locally, known as the Spoon-billed Duck — the Anas dyjieata 

 of Linnreus and Spatula or I^hyiwhasjds cit/peata of modern writers. 

 All these names refer to the shape 

 of the bird's bill, which, combined 

 with the remarkably long lamellx 

 (not wholly incomparable with the 

 "whalebone" of the toothless Ceta- 

 ceans) that beset both maxilla and 

 mandible, has been thought sufficient 

 to remove the species from the 

 Linnsean genus Anas. Excejit for 

 this exaggerated feature, which car- 

 ries with it a clumsy look, the male 

 Shoveler would pass for one of the most beautiful of this generally 

 beautiful group of birds. As it is, for bright and variegated colouring, 

 there are few of his kindred to whom he is inferior. His golden eye, 

 his dark green head, surmounting a throat of pure white and suc- 

 ceeded by a breast and flanks of rich bay, are conspicuous ; while 

 his deep brown back, white scapulars, lesser wing-coverts (often mis- 

 called " shoulders ") of a glaucous blue, and glossy green speculum 

 bordered with white, present a wonderful contrast of the richest 

 tints, heightened again by his bright oi'ange feet. On the other 

 hand, the female, except the blue wing-coverts she has in common 

 with her mate, is habited very like the ordinary Wild DrcK, A. 

 boscas (pp. 168-170). The Shoveler is not an abundant species, 

 and in Great Britain its distribution is local ; but its luimbers have 

 remarkably increased since the passing of the AVi Id-Fowl Protection 

 Act in 1876,^ so that in certain districts it has regained its old 

 position as an indigenous member of our Fauna. It has not 

 ordinarily a very high northern range, but inhabits the greater part 

 of Europe, Asia and America, passing southwards, like most of the 

 Anatidx, towards winter, constantly reaching India, Ceylon, 

 Abyssinia, the Antilles and Central America, while it is known to 

 have occurred at that season in New Granada, and, according to 

 Gould, in Australia. Generally resembling in its haliits the other 

 freshwater Ducks, the Shoveler has one peculiarity that has been 

 rarely mentioned, and one that is perhaps correlated with the 

 structure of its bill. It seems to be especially given to feeding on 



^ Prior to tliat year there was perliaps only one district in England wlierein 

 the Shoveler could be said to breed regularly, and thereto only a few jiairs 

 resorted. Ten years later there must have been a dozen counties in which it 

 nested, and in some of them the pairs breeding might be reckoned by the score, 

 while at the jiresent time the number of counties might be safely doubled. 



