SHOVELER 841 
SHOVELARD, a word by which used to be meant the bird 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 clypeata 
of Linnzeus and Spatula or Rhynchaspis clypeata 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 
Linnean genus Anas. Except for 
SSSA, 
this exaggerated feature, which car- : 
J eas Bru or SHoveter. (After Swainson. 
Reswithiitapchumeye look«the male, stor SHovetes, Cotter Swanson.) 
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 orange 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 Duck, 4. 
boscas (pp. 168-170). The Shoveler is not an abundant species, 
and in Great Britain its distribution is local; but its numbers have 
remarkably increased since the passing of the Wild-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 
Anatide, 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 habits 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 
1 Prior to that year there was perhaps only one district in England wherein 
the Shoveler could be said to breed regularly, and thereto only a few pairs 
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 present time the number of counties might be safely doubled, 
