SPATULA CLIPEATA. 
(THE COMMON SHOVELLER.) 
Anas clypeata, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 200 (1766); Naum. Naturgescli. der Vog. Deutschl. 
xi. p. 747 (1842). 
Spatula clypeata (Linn.), Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. p. 803 (1849); Layard, Ann. & Mag. 
Nat. Hist. 1854, xiv. p. 270 ; Jerdon, B. of Ind. iii. p. 796 (1864) ; Holdsw. P. Z. S. 
1872, p. 479; Yon Heuglin, Orn. N.Ost-Afr. ii. p. 1331 (1873); Dresser, B. Eur. 
pt. 21 (1873) ; Scully, Str. Feath. 1876, p. 199 ; Sclater & Salvin, P. Z. S. 1876, p. 396 ; 
David & Oust. Ois. de la Chine, p. 500 (1877) ; Hume, Str. Feath. 1879, p. 115 (List 
B. of Ind.). 
Le canard Soucliet, Buff. PI. Enl. 971, 972; Red-breasted Shoveller, Lath.; Blue-winged 
Shoveller of some ; Spoon-billed Ruck in India ; Re Slobeend, Dutch ; Rato trombeteiro, 
Portuguese. Kana Icaurdak, Turki (Scully) ; Eisch, Arabic ; Tidari, Hind. 
Adult male. (Europe) Wing 9-1 to 9-5 inches ; tail 3-6 to 4-0 ; tarsus 1-3 to 1-4 ; middle toe 1-7 to 1-9, claw (straight) 
0-4 ; hind toe 0-4 ; bill to gape (straight) 3-0 to 3-1, width at tip 1-2, at base 0-55. (Yarkand) “ Length 19-8 ; 
wing 9‘3 ; tail 3-3 ; tarsus 1-4 ; bill from gape 2-85.” (Scully.) 
Iris reddish orange ; bill greyish black ; legs and feet reddish orange, claws brownish. 
Male after autumn moult. Head and neek black, glossed with blue-green, which reaches almost round the base of the 
bill and down the throat ; this dark colour ends abruptly round the bottom of the neck, below which the lower 
neck and upper part of chest are white, as are also the upper scapular feathers, the innermost under wing-coverts, 
and axillaries ; centre of the hind neck and interscapulary region brownish black, darkening into deep black on 
the rump and upper tail-coverts, which have a greenish lustre ; the feathers of the lower hind neck edged with 
greyish ; scapulars lengthened and lanceolate ; the inner longer feathers black, with central white stripes, the 
outer delicate azure-blue with white central stripes ; the tertials (lanceolate) black, glossed with green, and with 
a handsome central stripe at the tip blending into the dark hue ; some of the shorter scapulars mottled with 
blackish ; lesser wing-coverts palo glossy grey-blue ; the greater brown, the visible part of the tips white, forming 
a bar across the wing ; secondaries brown, tipped with white, terminal portion of the outer webs brilliant green ; 
primaries brown, with white shafts ; tail brown, the central feathers edged with white, and each succeeding 
feather more deeply marked in the same way, the two lateral pairs being almost wdute ; beneath, from the chest, 
dark rufous, the centre of the belly darker than the surrounding plumage ; under tail-coverts black ; the shorter 
feathers at the vent whitish, stippled with rufous : under wing along the edge brown. 
Ihis plumage is worn through the winter and spring until the following June, when the male assumes a plumage very 
similar to the female below described, but recognizable from that of the other sex by the blue wing-coverts, broad 
white tips of the greater coverts, and dark green speculum. This livery is worn until the following October, when 
the above-described handsome plumage is again donned. 
Female. (England : coll. Dresser) Wing 8-7 inches ; tail 3-8 ; tarsus 1-4 ; middle toe 1-7 ; bill to gape 2-6, at front 
2-2. (Yarkand) “Length 17‘5; wing 8-35 ; tail 3-1; tarsus 1-25 ; bill from gape 2-65.” (Scully.) 
Iris brown ; bill brown, lower mandible yellowish ; legs aud feet impure orange-yellow, claws brownish. 
Head, neck, and under surface glossy clay-buff, unmarked on the chin and upper part of the throat, but the 
feathers on the head, face, and neck with brown central stripes, very broad on the crown and hind neck ; a 
small space at the front of the lores unspotted ; the feathers of the fore neck, chest, and under surface with the 
central parts brown, here and there concealed on the lower parts beneath the yellow margins, but bold and 
exposed on the flanks, and very dark on the lower fore neck ; interscapulary region and scapulars lyown, boldly 
edged with light buff, and some of the scapulars with longitudinal curved stripes of the same ; the rump almost 
uniform dark brown ; the shorter upper tail-coverts with crescentic bands of white, and the longer with bar-like 
spots of rich buff ; tail buff, the feathers with lanceolate marks of dark brown near the tips, which pale gradually 
towards the outer feathers ; lower wing-coverts light brown, pervaded with bluish, the greater series broadly 
tipped with white ; the secondaries more narrowly so, brown externally, and washed with green on the outer webs ; 
