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DUCKS, GEESE, AND SWANS 
GENUS SPATULA. 
142. Spatula clypeata (Linn.). Shoveller: Spoonbill. 
Bill long, much widened toward end; the long, fine comb-like teeth 
conspicuous along side of closed bill. Adult male : head and neck black, 
glossed on sides and back with green ; wing coverts light blue with a white 
bar ; scapulars streaked with blue, white, and black ; speculum green; 
chest white, belly chestnut; bill black, feet orange. Adult female: plum¬ 
age mainly spotted and streaked with dusky and brown; wing as in the 
male, but duller. Young: in general like adult female. Length: 17-21, 
wing 9-10, bill 2.60-2.90, width of bill at base .60, near end 1.10-1.20. 
Distribution. — Northern hemisphere, breeding in North America from 
Texas to Hudson Bay and Alaska. 
Nest. — On ground in dry grass or under bushes, made of grass or 
weeds, lined with feathers. Eggs : 9 to 14, olive greenish to buffy. 
The shoveller is especially common over the plains and valleys of 
the western part of the continent, breeding from Texas to northern 
Alaska in the open country where there are shallow ponds and 
sloughs. They are usually found in pairs or small flocks, sitting on 
the bank or puddling in the shallow water close to shore, skimming 
flies and larvae from the surface with their spoon-like bills, or with 
head and neck under water, sifting seeds, mollusks, and crustaceans 
from the muddy bottom. They rarely become fat, and while fairly 
good eating are astonishingly thin and light for their apparent size. 
Vernon Bailey. 
GENUS DAFILA. 
143. Daflla acuta (Linn.). Pintail. 
A large duck, with long neck and long, sharp tail of 16 feathers ; head 
not crested. Adult male: sides of head snuff brown, with a purple gloss; 
crown darker, back of neck blackish, a white stripe down side of neck ; 
throat and under parts white ; sides and upper parts gray crossed by wavy 
lines ; wing slaty, with purple speculum bordered above by a line of buff, 
and below by white ; tertials with broad stripes of velvety black and 
white ; under tail coverts black. Adult female: gray, with head and neck 
finely specked, and under parts, including under surface of wing, finely 
mottled with dusky; back and wings more heavily mottled with black, 
brown, and buffy ; wing without speculum, but greater coverts tipped 
with white. Male: length 26-30, wing 10.25-11.20, bill 1.85-2.15, tail 
7.25-9.50. Female: smaller, length 21.00-23.50, wing 9.60-10.10, bill 
1.80, tail 4.50-5.00. 
