14* WATER FOWL. 



has many local names by which it is known to sports- 

 men and gunners. Some of these are, Spoonbill, Blue- 

 winged Shoveler, Red-breasted Shoveler, Spoonbilled 

 Teal, Spoonbilled Widgeon, Broad Bill, Broady, Swad- 

 dlebill, Mud Shoveler, and in Louisiana, Mesquin. 



SPATULA CLYPEATA. 



Geographical Distribution. Cosmopolitan. Throughout 

 the Northern Hemisphere. In North America from Alaska to 

 Texas, and thence southward through Mexico and Central 

 America to northern South America. Not common on the 

 Atlantic coast. Breeds pretty much throughout its range. 



Adult Male. Head and neck, dark metallic green; black in 

 certain lights. Upper part of back, breast, and anterior scapu- 

 lars, white. Middle of back, brown; rump and upper tail cov- 

 erts, black, glossed with metallic green. Wing coverts and outer 

 web of two long scapulars, pale blue. Tips of greater wing cov- 

 erts, white, forming a narrowband across the wing. Speculum, 

 metallic grass green. Inner secondaries, greenish black, with 

 median white stripe. Primaries, fuscous on outer webs, pale 

 brown on inner. Tail, with central rectrices, brown, edged with 

 white; remaining feathers, white; freckled or blotched with 

 brownish gray. A white patch on each side of root of tail. 

 Entire under parts, rich deep chestnut, extending to crissum, 

 which with the under tail coverts, is dark metallic green, black 

 in some lights, bordered anteriorly by a narrow band of white, 

 undulated with black. Inner feathers of the flanks, pale chest- 

 nut, freckled with black. Bill, black; iris, pale yellow. Legs 

 and feet, orange red; webs, violet gray. Total length, about 19 

 inches; wing, g; culmen, 2^; tarsus, i^. 



Adult Female. Front and top of head, brownish white, 

 streaked with dusky; neck and sides of head buff, streaked with 

 dusky. Chin and throat, uniform buff. Upper part of back and 

 wings, fuscous; feathers, edged with yellowish white. Wing 

 coverts, dull, pale blue; feathers sometimes edged with white. 

 Speculum, metallic green. Middle of back and rump, fuscous; 

 feathers, edged with V-shaped bars of reddish buff. Upper tail 

 coverts, fuscous; irregularly barred with buff or white. Tail, 

 white, barred with brown. Under parts, reddish buff, spotted 



