THE SHOVELERS. 
265 
mother, who shams to be wounder], so as to draw off attention 
from the young, while Dr. Henderson states that he saw a 
female make all her young ones dive, by swimming and 
flapping on to each of them as soon as it showed itself above 
water, "after which she pretended to be wounded, and lay 
on the water every now and then, with wings spread out, as 
if unable to fly. It is evident that the old birds, breeding in 
cliffs so high above the water, must convey the young to the 
latter. The food of the Ruddy Sheld-Duck consists of grass 
and water-plants, as well as small molluscs. 
Uest. — This is placed in a variety of situations, in a Inirrow, 
in the middle of a corn-field, in the cleft of a precipice, or, 
in Eastern Siberia, in the deserted nest of a bird of prey. 
Eggs. — From nine to as many as sixteen in number, and 
creamy-white, with scarcely any gloss. Axis, 2 7-2 '85; diam., 
I '85-1 •9. The colour of the down in the nest has not yet 
been described. 
THE SHOVELERS. GENUS SPATULA. 
Spatula, Boie, Isis, 1822, p. 564. 
Type, A. clypeata (L.). 
The Shovelers are very easily distinguished by their flat 
and shovel like bills, and in their plumage they resemble 
the true Ducks, especially the Teal, having blue wing-coverts 
like some of the members of the genus Neition. Two genera 
of Shoveler Ducks are known, the genus Spatula containing 
four species, of which our English S. clypeata is the best 
known and the most widely distributed ; 5 . rhynchotis comes 
from Australia and New Zealand, N. plataka from S. America, 
and S. capensis from South Africa. Their range is, therefore, 
nearly cosmopolitan. In Australia and Tasmania another 
curious genus of Shovelers is found, Malacorhynchits, with a 
single species, M. membranaceus, confined to the countries 
above-mentioned. 
I. THE SHOVELER. SPATULA CLYPEATA. 
Anas clypeata, Linn. S. N. i. p. 200 (1766) 1 Seebohin, Br. B. 
hi. p. 554 (1885) ; Lilford, Col. Fig. Br. B. part x. 
(1889). 
