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Genus SPATULA. 



Anas apud Linnaeus, Syst. Nat. i. p. 200 (1766). 



Spatula, Boie, Isis, 1822, p. 564. 



Rhynchaspis apud Stephens in Shaw's Gen. Zool. xii. p. 114 (1824). 



Spathulea apud Fleming, Brit. An. i. p. 123 (1828). 



Clypeata apud Lesson, Man. d'Orn. ii. p. 416 (1828). 



The Shovellers, which are easily recognizable by their peculiar bills, inhabit the Palaearctic, 

 Ethiopian, Oriental, Australian, Nearctic, and Neotropical Regions, only one species being found 

 within the limits of the Western Palaearctic Region. 



These birds are more particularly freshwater Ducks, though they are sometimes found 

 frequenting the sea-coast. They are gregarious, though as a rule they are not found in such 

 large flocks as many of the other species of Ducks. They feed on seeds, grain, and various 

 other vegetable substances, as well as small water-insects, snails, worms, and small fish. They 

 swim, like their allies, with ease, but seldom dive unless closely pursued. They fly swiftly, their 

 flight being not unlike that of the Mallard. They place their nest on the ground near fresh 

 water, concealing it carefully in the high grass, or under a bush, constructing it of grass-straws 

 lined with down, and deposit numerous pale greenish-grey eggs. 



Spatula clypeata, the type of the genus, has the bill much longer than the head, higher than 

 broad at the base, depressed, and broadening towards the end, where it is nearly twice as broad 

 as at the base ; unguis small, oblong-ovate, decurved, the edge of the bill sinuate, the numerous 

 elongated slender lamella? projecting and forming a fringe from the base to the broadest part; 

 nostrils small, oval ; trachea enlarging gradually from the top, the inferior larynx with a small 

 bulb extending on one side and behind ; bronchi large ; wings moderate, pointed, the first quill 

 longest ; inner secondaries and scapulars elongated, acuminate ; legs short, the tibia with a very- 

 small space bare, tarsus short, compressed, anteriorly scutellate ; hind toe small, with a very 

 narrow membrane ; anterior toes moderate ; interdigital membranes emarginate ; claws rather 

 long, slender, compressed, arched, rather pointed. 



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