SPECIES 4. ^NAS CLYPEATA. 
SHOVELLER. 
[Plate LXVIL— Fig. 7.] 
/>e Souchet, Briss. vi, p. 329. 6. pi. 32. Jig. 1. — Buff, ix, 191. — 
PI. Enl. 971. — Jlrct. Zool. JSTo. 485. — Catesb. i, pi. 96, female. 
— La’I'h. Si/n. HI, p. 509. — Pe/lLfIs Museum, J^o. 2734.* 
If we except the singularly formed and disproportionate size 
of the bill, there are few Ducks more beautiful, or more ele- 
gantly marked than this. The excellence of its flesh, which is 
uniformly juicy, tender, and well tasted, is another recommen- 
dation to which it is equally entitled. It occasionally visits the 
seacoast; but is more commonly found on our lakes and rivers, 
particularly along their muddy shores, where it spends great 
part of its time in searching for small worms, and the larvae of 
insects, sifting the watery mud through the long and finely set 
teeth of its curious bill, which is admirably constructed for the 
purpose; being large, to receive a considerable quantity of mat- 
ter, each mandible bordered with close-set, pectinated rows, 
exactly resembling those of a weaver’s reed, which fitting into 
each other form a kind of sieve, capable of retaining very mi- 
nute worms, seeds, or insects, which constitute the principal 
food of the bird. 
The Shoveller visits us only in the winter, and is not known 
to breed in any part of the United States. It is a common bird 
* We add the following Synonymes. — Jinas clyptata, Gmei. Sysl. i, p. 518, 
No. 19. A. Mex'icana, Id. p. 519, JSIo. SI? — J}. 7-ubens, Id. So- 82. — Lath. hid. 
Orn. p. 856, Ifo. 60; p. 857, JVb. 61, TVo. 62. Gen. Syn. iir, p. 511, JVo. 56; p. 
512, J^o. 57. Blue-wing shoveller, Catesbt, i, pi. 96, female. — Br. Zool. No. 
280, No. 281. — Le Soiichel du Jilexique, Bmss. Ti,p. 337. Le Canard Sauvage 
du Mexique, Id. p. 327. No. 5. — Canard Souchel, Temm. Man. d'Orn. p. 842. 
— Bewick, ii, p. 310, 313. Peaie’s Museum, No. 2735, female. 
