RED SHOVELLER 37 



Adult Female : Exactly like the female of Spatula clypeata in color, but slightly smaller. 

 Iris brownish to brown. Bill brownish black to blackish. Legs and feet grayish to yellowish. 

 Wing 195—209 mm.; bill 59; tarsus 32. 



Youxg Female lx First (Juvenal) Plumage : Resembles the adult but probably has the mantle 

 more uniform in appearance. 



Youxg Male rx First Plumage: Resembles the young female, but the blue of the wing-coverts is 

 brighter, and the legs and feet are said to be of a more brilliant coloring. 



Youxg rx Dowx: Xot available. 



DISTRIBUTION 



The range of the Red Shoveller does not differ greatly from that of many other South American 

 shoal-water ducks. In the north it has been found as far as Peru, at Tungasuca (P. L. Sclater and 

 Salvin, lS76a) . When Lord William Percy was in western Bolivia in May, 1920, he took Peru 

 three specimens and saw others on the Desaguadero River, eighty miles above Lake 

 Poopo at an altitude of about 11,000 feet. It is found in the Bolivian Chaco, near via 



Tarya (Lo'nnberg, 1903). Kerr (1892) met with it on the lower Pilcomayo, and it is found through- 

 out northern Argentina. Lonnberg (1903) found it in Jujuy and Lillo (1902) has re- , . 

 corded it from Tucuman. It occurs also in Rioja (Giacomelli, 1907) and in Cordoba 

 (Frenzel, 1891; Schuk, fide Dabbene, 1910). In parts of Mendoza it is common (C. S. Reed, 1916). 

 Farther east, C. H. C. Burmeister (1861) met with it on the Parana, and it is found also in Rio 

 Grande do Sul, southeastern Brazil (H. and R. von Lhering, 1907). In Uruguay, ac- „ 

 cording to Barrows (1884), it is the commonest duck on the salt ponds of Puan and 

 Carhue. Tremoleras (1920) has recorded it for Montevideo and Canelones. 



In Buenos Aires Province it is a fairly common resident, and breeds (P. L. Sclater and Hudson, 

 1889; Hartert and Yenturi, 1909; C. H. B. Grant, 1911; E. Gibson, 1920). Mr. J. L. Peters (MS.) 

 found it locally common in northwestern Patagonia, and Durnford (1877, 1878) says it is resident and 

 common in central Patagonia. Specimens have been taken as far south as the Straits of Magellan 

 (P. L. Sclater and Salvin, 1878) and northern Tierra del Fuego (Blaauw, 1916a). P. L. Sclater and 

 Salvin (1873) stated that the species occurs in the Falklands. 



In Chile it is resident (James, 1892), but is rare in the south, though abundant in the central 

 parts (Quijada, 1910). Waugh and Lataste (1894) say it is a common game-bird near Santiago. 

 Lane (1897) found it on the Rio Pilmaiguen and the British Museum has a specimen ~... 

 from Tarapaca. It is probably also rare in northern Chile. 



GENERAL HABITS 



Very little has been written about this duck, which as far as its intimate habits are 

 concerned, apparently differs in no respect from the Common Shoveller. It is a much 

 more common bird than the Australian or the Cape Shovellers, and like them it has 

 no eclipse plumage. Its haunts are like those of the other Shovellers, for it prefers 

 brackish lagoons and shallow inland waters adapted to its peculiar mode of feeding. 

 Concerning its seasonal movements little can be said, so scanty is our informa- 

 tion. Like all the shoal-water ducks of the Argentine it is both local and migratory 

 over the whole of its range excepting at the extremities, where it is chiefly, if not en- 

 tirely, migratory'. In Uruguay in the north it arrives in great numbers early in 



