NATATORES. SPATHULEA. 295 



Forehead, cheeks, and chin pale ochreous-yellow. Region General 

 of the eyes, crown of the head, and nape of the neck t ion C . np " 

 greyish-white. Neck, as far as the collar, ochreous- 

 yellow, tinged with orange. Collar about half an inch 

 in width, black, glossed with green. Breast, mantle, 

 scapulars, and under parts of the body gallstone-yellow, 

 tinged with orange, being deepest upon the breast. The 

 feathers upon the upper parts of the body have their 

 margins paler, and the ends of the long tertials pass into 

 sienna-yellow. Lesser and middle wing-coverts white ; 

 secondary quills green, glossed with purple, and form- 

 ing a large speculum ; greater quills black. Lower 

 part of the back, upper tail-coverts, and tail, black, 

 glossed with green. Bill, legs, and feet, black. 

 The female has not the black collar ; her colours are not 

 so bright, and the feathers upon the back are finely 

 speckled with grey. 



GENUS SPATHULEA, FLEM. SHOVELLER. 



GENERIC CHARACTERS. 



BILL longer than the head, semi-cylindrical at the base, 

 strait, depressed in front of the nostrils ; the tip much dilated 

 and spoon-shaped, terminated by a small hooked nail or der- 

 trum. Mandibles laminated ; the laminae very fine, long, 

 and like bristles, those of the upper mandible at its posterior 

 part projecting much beyond its margins. Under mandible 

 narrower than the upper, and having its front part, when 

 closed, entirely hid by the projecting and deflected sides of 

 the upper mandible. Nasal fosse small, and situated near 

 the base of the bill. Nostrils oval, pervious. Tongue broad, 

 fleshy, bristly, with the tip triangular. 



Wings long, acuminate, with the first and second quills 

 nearly equal in length. 



