GENUS SPATULA (Bate). 



THE European type of this form is the Shoveller of the British Islands. The plumage of no 

 other Duck is so changeable as that of the male bird of this genus ; when the female is sitting 

 on her eggs, he undergoes a moult, after which he appears mottled, and seems as if inclined to 

 assume the soberer garb of his partner ; but by the time the young birds are hatched his plumage 

 has attained the perfection of varied and beautiful colouring. 



SPATULA VARIEGATA (Gould). 



VARIEGATED SHOVELLER. Genus: Spatula. 



DISTINGUISHED by beauty of plumage and gallant carriage either when swimming or walking, 

 this species is conspicuous from the other Ducks ; the handsome crescent-like markings which 

 adorn the feathers of the breast, neck and scapularies serving to intensity the variety and splendour 

 of colour. 



The rarity of the present species is such that little is known of its habits. Up to L865— 

 when it was entirely new to science — only one specimen had reached Europe, which was fully described 

 by Gould. 



The formation of the bill is similar to that of the well-defined European form (Spatula 

 Clypeata), which it also doubtless resembles in many other particulars, such as feeding on aquatic 

 insects, worms and larvae, procured by sifting the watery mud through the long and finely-set teeth. 



During the rainy season in Australia, when large areas of country are subjected to partial 

 inundation, a wandering individual or pair may be seen associating with the hundreds of Ducks of 

 other species always to be found at such times feeding upon the aquatic grasses and insects of the 

 submerged flats or other depressions of the country temporarily under water in Australia and New 

 Zealand ; but as the water (hies up, the various species betake themselves elsewhere, and the Shoveller 

 also disappears at the same time, returning to some unknown or unfrequented habitat in the interior 



Nothing is known in regard to the nidification of this species : for although a few birds 

 are occasionally seen in the settled parts of the country, their breeding places are doubtless far from 

 the haunts of man. and remain to bo discovered by some enthusiastic collector or wandering sportsman. 



Total length. 1(5,1, inches; bill. :> inches: wing, 9^ inches: tail. 4| inches: tarsi. I § inch. 



Crown of the head and round the base of the bill, black, with brown and green lights ; a 

 crescent-shaped streak of white runs from the front of the eye downwards to the throat ; cheeks and 

 neck, metallic grey-green ; front of the neck, brown, with perpendicular markings of black : back, dark grey, 

 the feathers margined with brown : breast, shoulders and mantle, white, each feather broadly tipped with dark 

 brown ; under surface, rich brown, with black markings ; flanks, much lighter ; greater winy-coverts, 

 brown ; lesser wing-coverts, grey : primaries, dark brown ; scapularies, blue-grey, with white markings ; 



