SPATULA CLYPEATA. 



KOLOA MOHA \ 



Anas clypeata, LinnEeus, Syst. Nat. ed. 12, i. p. 200 (1766) ; Schlegel, Cat. Mus. P.-B. Anseres, 

 p. 34 (1866) ; Dole, Proc. Post. Soc. N. H. xii. p. 305 (1869) ; id. Haw. Alman. 1879, p. 55. 



Spatula clypeata, Boie, Isis, 1822, p. 564; Sclater & Salvia, Ibis, 1859, p. 231 ; iid. Proc. Zool. Soc. 

 1876, p. 396; Lawrence, Mem. Bost. Soe. N. H. ii. p. 314 (1874); Peale, U.S. Expl. Exped., 

 Birds, p. 251 (1818); Cassin, U.S. Expl. Exped., Mamm. & Orn. p. 343 (1858) ; G. R. Gray, 

 Cat. B. Trop. Isl. p. 55 (1859) ; Gould, Handb. B. Austral, ii. p. 370 (1865); Baird, Brewer, 

 & Ridgway, Water-B. N. Am. p. 526 (1884) ; Stejneger, Bull. U.S. Nat. Mus. no. 29, p. 159 

 (1885) ; id. Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. 1887, p. 137. 



Rhynchaspis clypeata, Hartlaub, Arcli. f. Naturgescli. xviii. Heft 1, p. 136 (1852). 



[Nearly all the above references indicate the occurrence of this widely-ranging Holarctic 

 species on the shores or islands of the Pacific Ocean only.] 



I observed this species in some brackish lagoons on the sea-coast near Kiawaiiki, in 

 Hawaii, during December 1887, but failed to procure specimens. Peale, in his 

 account of the United States Exploring Expedition, says : — " Good specimens of this 

 beautiful Duck were obtained at the islands of Hawaii and Oahu ; they appear to be 

 identical with the Americans, and in this respect are worthy of attention, as but few 

 of the birds found on that group of islands have analogues on either of the shores of 

 the Pacific Ocean opposite to them." 



Dr. Stejneger, in the ' Proceedings of the United States National Museum ' for 

 1888, records a male specimen received through Mr. Knudsen from Kauai in winter 

 plumage, apparently a bird of the year ; and on the authority of that gentleman gives 

 the native name as " Koloa moha." He remarks that at that season it seems a com- 

 paratively common bird. 



The Shoveller ranges throughout the Arctic Regions, and thence to Australia ; and 

 Mr. Gould's account in his ' Handbook ' of the birds of that country may be found 

 interesting. He says : — ' : When I visited New South Wales during the rainy season 

 of 1839, all the depressed parts of the land were filled with water, and the lagoons 

 here, there, and everywhere were tenanted by hundreds of Ducks of various species, 

 and every now and then one, two, or more beautifully plumaged Shovellers were seen 

 among them ; but I did not succeed in shooting one of them, and must have left the 



1 Mr. Dole gives the native name as " Moha," and proceeds to say : — " They spend the winter months at 

 the Islands, and migrate in the spring to the North-west coast of America, returning late in the fall. Frequent 

 fresh water." 



