SHOVELER. 



253 



tail-coverts black ; legs, toes, and their membranes, red- 

 dish orange; the nails black. 



The whole length is about twenty inches. From the 

 carpal joint to the end of the wing, ten inches ; the second 

 quill -feather the longest. 



Adult males in summer change the green colour of the 

 head and neck to brown, spotted with very dark brown ; 

 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. 



Of the windpipes figured below, that with the circular 

 bony enlargement belongs to the male Shoveler, the other 

 to the female. 



