SHOVELLER. 



379 



back and scapulars dusky ; breast and belly ferruginous, 

 spotted with black ; legs orange. 



Females have the head and neck mottled with two shades 

 of brown ; the feathers on the upper surface of the body 

 darker brown in the centre, with light brown edges and tips ; 

 under surface of the body pale brown. 



Young males at first resemble females, changing by slow 

 degrees to the true distinctive plumage of the sex, but do 

 not attain it till after the old males have completed their 

 change under the influence of the autumn moult. 



A nestling lent to the Editor by Mr. Bidwell, taken at 

 Loch Spynie, Elgin, by the late Charles St. John, and 

 mounted by Mr. John Hancock, is characterized by having 

 a proportionately longer, narrower, and more slender bill 

 than the Mallard, but as yet no widening at the tip is 

 noticeable. The brown of the upper parts is nearly uniform 

 and unspotted. 



Of the windpipes figured below, that with the circular 

 bony enlargement belongs to the male Shoveller, the other 

 to the female. 



