12 SPATULA CLYPEATA 



shaft stripes. Central tail-feathers dark brown, outer ones nearly white. Whole lower surface except 

 lower neck and breast, chestnut color, richer on the flanks. Under tail-coverts black, sides of rump 

 white. Outer wing-coverts pale blue; lower row black with white tips, forming an anterior speculum 

 bar. Speculum, on the outer web of the secondaries, glossy green. Primaries dark brown; under wing- 

 coverts and axillars white. 



Iris golden to reddish orange. Bill dark lead-color to blackish. Legs and feet bright orange-red. 



Wing 228-250 mm.; tarsus 35-40; culmen 61-68 (Museum of Comparative Zoology specimens). 



Weight 1 pound, 4 ounces to 1 pound, 10 or 12 ounces (0.56 to 0.79 kilograms). 



Adult Female: A plain brown-colored duck with general coloration very similar to that of the 

 female Mallard. The wing plan is similar to that of the male Shoveller but the blue of the wing-coverts 

 is only just perceptible, and the speculum is dull-colored except on the innermost secondaries. 



Iris yellow. Bill greenish brown with the margins of the culmen yellower. Lower mandible dull 

 orange. Legs and feet nearly as in the male. 



Wing 230-240 mm.; tarsus 37; culmen 60-64. 



Weight 1 pound, 2 ounces to 1 pound, 4 ounces (0.51 to 0.56 kilograms), possibly more. 



Male est Eclipse: This plumage is assumed rather late in the summer and carried into the winter as 

 with the Blue-winged Teal. The general appearance is very much like that of the female. The 

 occiput is darker than in the adult female and the mantle is more uniform, without the broad light 

 edgings to the feathers. 



Although as a general rule the old males do not attain winter plumage until later than most ducks, 

 one does see some in nearly perfect feather by the first week in December. 



Young Female m First Plumage: Closely resembles adult female but can be distinguished by 

 the more uniform appearance of mantle and scapular region (lack of light edgings to the feathers). 

 The lower surface is darker and more streaked and spotted with gray, especially the lower abdomen. 

 The tail-feathers are blunted at the tips as in the young of other species. 



Young Male in First Plumage: Similar to the female at corresponding age except for the bluer 

 wing-coverts and brighter green on the speculum. Sometimes a few feathers bearing broad sub- 

 terminal blackish bands appear on the breast in September, and these are the beginning of the 

 change to adult plumage. During October young males with ruddy coloring and irregular cross- 

 barring on the abdomen begin to appear, and later on changes to adult plumage begin on the head, 

 mantle and breast. 



Young ln Down: Almost exactly like the young of the Mallard. The bill is not markedly spatulate, 

 but the edges of the upper mandible are soft, and the developing bristles can be made out. 



DISTRIBUTION 



Though by no means so common a bird as a number of other shoal-water ducks, the Shoveller has a 

 range exceeding in extent that of any other member of the family. It has never been met with on the 

 America Aleutian Islands, but a specimen was taken on May 24, 1910, on St. Paul Island in 



Alaska th e Pribilof group (Evermann, 1913) and it occurs in Alaska. A specimen has been 



recorded from Nushagak, at the base of the Alaska Peninsula (Osgood, 1904) and along the coast of 

 the Bering Sea it breeds, though not commonly, from the mouth of the Kuskoquim as far north as 

 Kotzebue Sound, and is rather common along the Yukon (Nelson, 1887). Dall and Bannister (1869) 

 state that it appears frequently at St. Michael's, but E. Adams (1878) took only a single pair at 

 Michaelaski. 



