SPATULA CLYPEATA. 



(THE COMMON SHOVELLER.) 



Anas clyveata, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 200 (1766) ; Naum, Naturgesch. der Vog. Deutschl. 



xi. p. 747 (1842). 

 Spatula clypeata (Linn.), Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. p. 303 (1849) ; Layard, Ann. & Mag. 



Nat. Hist. 1854, xiv. p. 270 ; Jerdon, B. of Ind. iii. p. 796 (1864) ; Holdsw. P. Z. S. 



1872, p. 479; Von Henglin, Orn. N.Ost-Afr. ii. p. 1331 (1873); Dresser, B. Eur. 



pt. 21 (1873) ; Scully, Str. Feath. 1876, p. 199 ; Sclater & Salvin, P. Z. S. 1876, p. 396 ; 



David & Oust. Ois. de la Chine, p. 500 (1877); LIume, Str. Feath. 1879, p. 115 (List 



B. of Ind.). 

 Le canard Souchet, Buff. PI. Enl. 971, 972; Bed-breasted Shoveller, Lath. ; Blue-winged 



Shoveller of some ; Spoon-hilled Duck in India ; De Slobeend, Dutch ; Pato trombeteiro, 



Portuguese. Kana kaurdak, Turki (Scully) ; Kisch, Arabic; Tidari, Hind. 



. UluU male. (Europe) Wing 9-1 to 9-5 inches ; tail 3-6 to 4-0 ; tarsus 1-3 to 1-4 ; middle toe 1-7 to 1-9, claw (straight) 

 D-4 ; hind toe 0-4 ; bill to gape (straight) 3-0 to 3-1, width at tip 1-2, at base 0-55. (Yarkand) "Length 19-8 ; 

 wing 9-3 ; tail 3-3 ; tarsus 1-4 ; bill from gape 2-85." (Scully.) 



Iris reddish orange ; bill greyish black ; legs and feet reddish orange, claws brownish. 



Male lift, /■ autumn moult. Head and neck black, glossed with blue-green, which reaches almost round the base of the 

 bill and down the throat; this dark colour ends abruptly round the bottom of the neck, below which the lower 

 neck and upper part of chest are white, as are also the upper scapular feathers, the innermost under wing-coverts, 

 and axillaries ; centre of the hind neck and interscapulary region brownish black, darkening into deep black on 

 the rump and upper tad-coverts, which have a greenish lustre ; the feathers of the lower hind neck edged with 

 greyish ; scapulars lengthened and lanceolate ; the inner longer feathers black, with central white stripes, the 

 outer delicate azure-blue with white central stripes; the tertials (lanceolate) black, glossed with green, and with 

 a handsome central stripe at the tip blending into the dark hue ; some of the shorter scapulars mottled with 

 blackish ; lesser wiug-coverts pale glossy grey-blue ; the greater brown, the visible part of the tips white, forming 

 a bar across the wing ; secondaries brown, tipped with white, terminal portion of the outer webs brilliant green ; 

 primaries brown, with white shafts ; tail brown, the central feathers edged with white, and each succeeding 

 feather more deeply marked in the same way, the two lateral pairs being almost white ; beneath, from the chest, 

 dark rufous, the centre of the belly darker than the surrounding plumage ; under tail-coverts black ; the shorter 

 feathers at the vent whitish, stippled with rufous ; under wing along the edge brown. 



This plumage is worn through the winter and spring until the following June, when the male assumes a plumage very 

 similar to the female below described, but recognizable from that of the other sex by the blue wing-coverts, broad 

 white tips of the greater coverts, and dark green speculum. This livery is worn until the following October, when 

 the above-described handsome plumage is again donned. 



Female. (England : coll. Dresser) Wing 8 - 7 inches ; tail 3-8 ; tarsus 1*4 ; middle toe 1"7 ; bill to gape 2 - 6, at front 

 2 - 2. (Yarkand) " Length 17'5 ; wing 8-35 ; tail 3 - l; tarsus l - 25 ; bill from gape 2 - 65." (Scully.') 



iris brown ; bill brown, lower mandible yellowish ; legs and feet impure orange-yellow, claws brownish. 



Head, neck, and under surface glossy clay-buff, unmarked on the chin and upper part of the throat, but the 

 feathers ou the head, face, and neck with brown central stripes, very broad on the crown and hind neck ; a 

 small space at the front of the lores unspotted ; the feathers of the fore neck, chest, and under surface with the 

 central parts brown, here and there concealed on the lower parts beneath the yellow margins, but bold and 

 exposed on the flanks, and very dark on the lower fore neck ; interscapulary region and scapulars b/own, boldly 

 edged with light buff, and some of the scapulars with longitudinal curved stripes of the same ; the rump almost 

 uniform dark brown ; the shorter upper'tail-coverts with crescentic bands of white, and the longer with bar-like 

 spots of rich buff ; tail buff, the feathers with lanceolate marks of dark brown near the tips, which pale gradually 

 towards the outer feathers ; lower wing-coverts light brown, pervaded with bluish, the greater series broadly 

 tipped with white ; the secondaries more narrowly so, brown externally, and washed with green on the outer webs ; 



