(RED SHOVELLER.)
+Anas platalea+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 517 (Paraná, Buenos
Ayres). +Spatula platalea+, _Scl. et Salv. P. Z. S._ 1868, p.
143 (Buenos Ayres), et 1876, p. 396; _iid. Nomencl._ p. 130;
_Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 41 (Chupat), et 1878, p. 65 (Buenos
Ayres) et p. 401 (Central Patagonia); _Barrows, Auk_, 1884, p.
274 (Carhué, Pampas); _Burm. P. Z. S._ 1872, p. 368.
_Description._--Above and beneath reddish, with round black spots;
head and neck lighter and spots smaller; lower back blackish, barred
with rufous, rump black; wings brownish black; lesser coverts blue;
middle coverts white; secondaries bronzy black; outer secondaries
and scapulars with white shaft-stripes; crissum black; tail brown,
lateral rectrices edged with white; bill dark, feet yellow: whole
length 20·0 inches, wing 8·0, tail 4·5. _Female_: above blackish
brown, edged with rufous; lesser wing-coverts bluish; beneath buffy
rufous, varied and spotted with blackish except on the throat.
_Hab._ Argentina, Patagonia, and Chili.
There is but one Shoveller Duck in South America, the present species,
which is confined to the southern part of the continent, from Paraguay
to Patagonia, and is familiar to sportsmen in the Plata as the Red Duck,
or _Espatula_. It is seldom met with in flocks of more than twenty or
thirty individuals, and a large number of birds appear to pair for life,
as they are usually seen in pairs at all seasons of the year. In the
autumn and winter months I have sometimes observed small flocks composed
of males only, but these were perhaps young birds not yet paired. They
feed in shallow water, where by plunging the head down they can reach
the mud at the bottom; and when several are seen thus engaged, all with
their heads and necks immersed, they look curiously like headless ducks
floating on the water. When disturbed or flying the male emits a low
sputtering sound, and this is its only language. They are resident and
the least wary of ducks; never engage, like other species, in real or
mock combats; and their flight is rapid and violent, the wings beating
quickly.