The nest is made amongst the rushes in the marshes, and the eggs are pure white and eight or nine in number. 353. SPATULA PLATALEA (Vieill.). (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. 354. METOPIANA PEPOSACA (Vieill.). (ROSY-BILLED DUCK.) +Anas peposaca+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 518 (Rio Paraná). +Metopiana peposaca+, _Scl. et Salv. P. Z. S._ 1868, p. 146 (Buenos Ayres), et 1876, p. 398; _iid. Nomencl._ p. 130; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 192 (Buenos Ayres); _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 625 (Buenos Ayres); _Barrows, Auk_, 1884, p. 274; _Scl. P. Z. S._ 1870, p. 666, pl. xxxvii.