SOUTH AFRICAN SHOVELLER 



SPATULA CAPENSIS (Eyton) 

 (Plate 48) 



Synonymy 

 Rhynchaspis capensis Smith, Cat. South African Mus., p. 36, 1837 (nomcn nudum); 



Eyton, Monograph Anatidae, p. 135, 1838. 

 Spatula clypeata G. R. Gray (in part), List Birds British Mus., vol. 3, p. 139, 1844. 

 Spatula capensis G. R. Gray, Genera Birds, vol. 3, p. 618, 1845. 

 Anas clypeata Schlegel (in part), Mus. Pays-Bas, Anseres, pp. 33, 34, 1866. 

 Anas capensis Giebel (in part), Thesaurus Ornith., vol. 1, p. 348, 1872. 

 Spatula smithii Hartert, Kat. Vogelsamml. Mus. Frankfurt, p. 331, 1891. 



Vernacular Names 

 English: Cape Shoveller, South African Shoveller. 

 German: Sudafrikanische Loffelente. 

 Dutch: Slop; Kaapse Slop. 



DESCRIPTION 



Adult Male (specimen in collection of J. H. Fleming, Toronto): General appearance like the male 

 of the Australian Shoveller, but the head is lighter colored and never has any bluish sheen, while the 

 lower parts have scarcely any chestnut tinge. It resembles very closely the female of the Australian 

 species, but differs from it in the bluer wing-coverts, the broader band of white anterior to the specu- 

 lum, and the bluish-metallic color at the ends of the outer secondaries. Except for the brilliant wing 

 this is a brown-colored duck both above and below, the breast having strongly marked dark-brown 

 V-shaped bars. The occiput is dark brown, but the edges of the feathers are gray. The sides of the 

 head and upper neck are buffy gray with minute dark-brown streaks. The chin and throat are nearly 

 immaculate buff. 



"Iris, lemon-yellow; bill, deep reddish -brown, almost black; legs, toes and webs, ochry-yellow, 

 but the latter are dusky towards the extremity" (Andersson). 



Wing 244 mm.; bill 62; tarsus 41. 



Female: Similar to the female of Spatula clypeata according to Salvadori, but easily distinguished by 

 the blue tinge of the speculum. Besides this it has the tail much darker brown, with irregular rufes- 

 cent bars. 



Immature in First (Juvenal) Plumage: Upper side, particularly the mantle, much more uniform 

 than in the adult and barred with wavy light lines in place of the dark rounded spots. Lower surface 

 indistinctly barred with irregular darker markings and not coarsely streaked as in the adult (British 

 Museum specimens). 



