606 CHAULELASMUS SPATULA 



Serucha, Russ. ; Samari, Arab. ; Mila, Bhuar, Hindu. ; Okayoshi* 

 Jap. 



$ ad. (Holland). Crown and nape dark reddish brown ; head and neck 

 dull brownish white all narrowly barred ; back dark slaty with undulating 

 white cross-bars ; lower back, rump, and upper tail-coverts black ; tail and 

 quills ashy brown ; alar patch white ; larger wing-coverts black, median 

 chestnut-red, the lesser grey marbled with sandy brown ; elongated inner 

 secondaries and scapulars dull light brown ; breast and flanks blackish 

 with transverse white lines ; under tail-coverts jet black ; bill blackish 

 along the ridge of the upper mandible, otherwise dirty yellow ; legs 

 dirty yellow, webs blackish ; iris dark brown. Culmen 1'9, wing 10'4, 

 tail 4*0, tarsus 1*55 inch. The female has the crown and nape blackish 

 brown finely striated with pale rufous ; back, scapulars, rump, and upper 

 tail-coverts blackish brown margined and marked with rufous ; wing- 

 coverts grey tipped with dull white, the larger marked with rufous ; 

 speculum white ; chin and upper throat white ; neck, breast, and flanks 

 dark brown, the former margined with rufous, the last with rufous grey ; 

 middle of abdomen dull white ; under tail-coverts whitish spotted with 

 brown. In the summer the male assumes a dress much like that of the 

 female, bnt the wings and tail are as above described. 



Hob. Europe generally, north to Iceland and central Scandi- 

 navia ; comparatively rare in Great Britain ; northern Africa 

 in winter and is said to have occurred as far south as the 

 Orange River ; Asia north to Kamchatka, east to Japan, and 

 south in winter to India and China ; North America, south to 

 the West Indies and Mexico in winter. 



In habits it resembles Anas boscas and is essentially a fresh- 

 water duck, feeding chiefly on vegetable matter, but it is also 

 known to eat aquatic insects, small shell-fish, frogs, etc. It 

 breeds in temperate latitudes making a nest like that of 

 A. 'boscas, placed near the water and usually in May, deposits 

 8 to 13 eggs, pale creamy yellow in colour, and in size 

 averaging about 2'10 by 1'50. 



SPATULA, Boie, 1822. 



845. SHOVELLER. 

 SPATULA CLYPEATA. 



Spatula clypeata (Linn.), Syst. Nat. i. p. 200(1766) ; (Naum.), xi. p. 747, 

 Taf. 306 ; (Hewitson), ii. p. 400, pi. cxii. fig. 2 ; (Gould), B. of E. 

 v. pi. 360 ; id. B. of Gt. Brit. v. pi. 14 ; Dresser, vi. p. 497, pi. 425 ; 

 (Audubon), B. Am. vi. p. 293, pi. 394 ; Salvadori, Cat. B. Br. Mus. 

 xxvii. p. 306; Tacz. F. 0. Sib. 0. p. 1151 ; Blanf. F. Brit. Ind. 

 Birds, iv. p. 452 ; Ridgway, p. 97 ; Saunders, p. 427 ; (Lilford), vii. 

 p. 90, pi. 35. 



