AN AUSTRALIAN UIRD BOOK. 
2 136* Australian Shoveller, Bluewing, Spoonbill-Duck, Stin- 
4 ker, Kuruwhengi, Spatula rhynchotiSy A., T., N.Z., 
r=vt. Eur. Shoveller. Nom. v.r. freshwater 21.5 
Crown brownish-black; white line before eye, side of 
neck; head, neck gray tinged green; under chestnut- 
brown mottled black; flanks chestnut banded black; 
back-feathers blackish edged grayish; blue, white, 
green on wing; throat black; quills dark-brown; under- 
wing white; f., duller; head, neck buff marked brown; 
under mottled brown, buff. Water-plants, shellfish, 
insects. 
of Iceland and the Logger-head, Racehorse, or Steamer Duck, of 
Magellan Straits, which is said to lose the power of flight on reach 
ing maturity after the first moult. Thus the life-history tells 
us that this bird is a degenerate form, and not a primitive flight 
less form, for it has evidently descended from flying ancestors. 
It uses its wings to row itself along at great speed. 
The ninth sub-family of this group of swimming birds contains 
two native Ducks. The Blue-billed Duck, the first of these, is 
''especially adapted for immersion and for obtaining its food 
from the bottom of the water rather than on its surface." It 
was thought by Gould to be confined to the coastal lagoons of 
Western Australia, but it has since been recorded from inland in 
Victoria, and four specimens have been taken in Tasmania. It 
remains under the water for a considerable time, and, if hunted, 
