368 BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 



primaries plain brown ; irides light brown ; bill greenish 

 grey, becoming much darker at the tip ; legs bluish green. 

 Total length 17 inches ; bill 2 J ; wing 9 ; tail 3 ; tarsi 2. 



Genus SPATULA, Boie. 



The great continents of America, Africa, Asia, and Australia 

 are each inhabited by one or more species of this restricted 

 genus. The well-known Shoveller of the British Islands is 

 the type of this form, all the members of which are true 

 grass-feeding Ducks, and most of them are subject to seasonal 

 changes. The nuptial dress of the male is very beautiful. 



Sp. 588. SPATULA RHYNCHOTIS. 



Australian Shoveller. 



Anas rhynchotis, Lath. Ind. Orn., Supp. p. Ixx. 



New Holland Shoveller, Lath. Gen. Syn. Supp. vol. ii. p. 359. 



Rkynchaspis rhynchotis, Steph. Cont. of Shaw's Gen. Zool.^ vol." xii. 

 p. 123. 



Spatula rhynchotis, List of Birds in Brit. Mus. Coll., part iii. p. 140. 



B'dr-doo-ngoo-ha, Aborigines of the lowland districts of Western Aus- 

 tralia. 



Shovel-nosed Duck of the Colonists. 



Spatula rhynchotis, Gould, Birds of Australia, fol., vol. vii. pi. 12. 



In size and structure, and particularly in the conformation 

 of the bill, the Spatula rhpichotis closely assimilates to the 

 Spatula clypeata of Europe and the Spatula variegata of New 

 Zealand ; and the three species, whose distinctive characters 

 are most plainly marked, are doubtless all characterized by 

 a similarity of habits and actions. Although ranging widely 

 from east to west, the habitat of this species, so far as is yet 

 known, is confined to the southern portion of Australia. It 

 is, however, more abundant in Tasmania and the islands in 

 Bass's Straits. New South Wales, South Australia, and 



