580 BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 



Family ANATID-E. 

 Genus SPATULA, Boie. 



Sp. 23. SPATULA VARIEGATA, Gould. 



Variegated Shoveller. 

 Spatula variegata, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc, part xxiv. p. 95. 



rhynchotis, G. R. Gray, in Dieft. Trav. in New Zeal., vol. ii. 



p. 198. 



Spatula variegata, Gould, Birds of Australia, foL, Supplement, 

 pi. 



Among the novelties brought by Mr. Walter Mantell from 

 New Zealand was a species of Shoveller Duck, which is cer- 

 tainly new to science, for with no one of the members of this 

 well-defined and widely spread genus can it be confounded. 

 Its nearest ally is the Australian species, Spatula rhynchotis ; 

 but it differs from it in its more variegated plumage, and in 

 other particulars. Supposing it to have been collected at the 

 same time as the fine Parrot Nestor notabilis, the Middle 

 Island of New Zealand will be the part where at least it is 

 occasionally found. It is somewhat strange that so large a 

 bird as this duck should not have fallen to the gun of the 

 collector before ; yet, on the other hand, how seldom does the 

 common Shoveller of Europe {Spatula cli/peata) come under 

 the notice of the sportsman ; even in the parts of England 

 where it is most common, he may pass years without an 

 opportunity occurring for shooting one. 



The Spatula variegata, which forms the fifth and is by far 

 the handsomest species of the genus Spatula, is distinguished 

 from the other members by the dark crescentic markings 

 which decorate the feathers of the breast, sides of the neck, 

 and scapularies. The species of this well-defined form pre- 

 viously described are Spatula dypeata, which inhabits Europe, 

 North America, India, and China ; S. rhynchotis, which is 

 found throughout Australia ; S. maculata, the habitat of which 



