WILD FOWL 
SHOVELER 
SPATULA CLY PLATA 
(Plate XXVIII, Figs. 3 and 3a) 
Rhynchaspsis clypeata, Gould, Birds Europe, v, pi. 360 (1837). 
Spatula clypeata, Dresser, Birds Europe, vi, p. 497, pi. 425 (1873); Hume & Marshall, 
Game Birds Ind., iii, p. 141, pi. 19 (1880); Salvador!, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., xxvii, p. 306 (1895); 
Saunders, III. Man. Brit. Birds, p. 427 (1899); Millais, Surface-feeding Ducks, p. 58, pis. xxi- 
xxviii (1902). 
Anas clypeata, Lilford, Col. Fig. Brit. Birds, part x, pi. (1889). 
DULT male. — Head and upper half of the neck dark glossy 
green shading into purple, except on the crown, lores 
i and throat, which are brownish -black, devoid of gloss; 
/ lower neck, chest and anterior scapulars white ; middle 
f of the hind-neck and back dark brown edged with 
aL.. brownish ; rump and upper tail -coverts black glossed 
with green; wing -coverts and outer webs of the longer scapulars bluish - 
grey, inner scapulars black with white shaft -streaks; outer webs of 
the secondaries glossy-green, forming a speculum which is edged in- 
ternally with white, formed by the tips of the greater wing -coverts ; 
primary quills ashy -brown; breast and belly chestnut; the longer flank - 
feathers buff towards the tip and vermiculated with black; under tail- 
coverts black, more or less glossed with green; under wing-coverts and 
axillaries pure white; middle tail-feathers blackish, outer pairs nearly 
pure white, intermediate pairs more or less mottled with brownish - 
black. Iris yellow; bill lead-colour; feet reddish -orange. Total length 
about 19 inches; bill 2*65 inches; wing about 9 ’5 inches; tail 3 5 inches; 
tarsus 1 4 inch. 
Adult male in eclipse-plumage (30th August). — General colour of the 
crown and upperparts uniform dark brown, only the scapulars being 
margined with pale rufous -buff ; sides of the head and neck marked as 
in the female, rest of the underparts also very similar to those of the 
female, but the feathers are more strongly marked with blackish ; wings 
as in the adult male. 
Adult female . — General colour of the upperparts brownish -black, each 
feather margined with pale rufous -buff ; lower back blackish, irregularly 
marked and mottled with buff ; throat pale rufous -buff almost devoid 
of markings; head, neck and underparts pale rufous-buff, streaked on 
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