_Spatula clypeata_, the Shoveller, which now breeds in many parts of Britain, extends from about the Arctic Circle to North Africa, Central Asia, and the United States, wintering southward to Casamance, Somaliland, Ceylon, Borneo, China, Japan, Colombia, and the West Indies, and visiting the Hawaiian islands, the Gilbert Group, and Australia. It is dark brown, relieved by a green head, white neck, chestnut breast and belly; the longer scapulars being black with white median stripes, the wing-coverts pale blue, the speculum green with white anterior border, the bill plumbeous, the feet orange. The female is red-brown with duller wings, while the bill of the young shows the spoon-shaped form in about three weeks. _S. rhynchotis_, of Southern Australia, Tasmania, and the New Zealand area, has a dark brown crown, and blue-grey neck, with a white lateral line, the chest being whitish and the lower parts chestnut, both with black bands; _S. platalea_, ranging from Peru and Paraguay to Patagonia and the Falklands, is reddish with round black spots, having a black crown and rump; whereas _S. capensis_, of South Africa, has a grey-brown head and neck, and brown mantle and under parts with darker mottlings. The wings and scapulars are similar in all the above, except in _S. capensis_, where the latter are dark blue-green. The females hardly differ from each other, but that of _S. rhynchotis_ is darker, that of _S. platalea_ has a shorter bill, while in both sexes of _S. capensis_ the speculum has a blue tinge. Shovellers are somewhat silent birds with a peculiar habit of swimming and feeding in circles over spots where Diving Ducks are submerged[117]; the diet includes herbage, worms, molluscs, crustaceans, and insects; the eggs are pale green. {125}_Querquedula circia_, the Garganey, which breeds (p. 126) regularly in East Anglia, ranges through most Palaearctic countries, and extends in winter to North Africa, a great part of the Indian Region, and the Moluccas; it has a brown crown, back, and chest, the last-named with darker crescents, a chocolate neck with white flecks, a white streak above the eye, bluish-grey wing-coverts, green speculum with white margins, and long black and white scapulars. _Q. discors_, its North American representative, reaching Ecuador and Peru in the cold season, is redder, with lead-coloured head, a white crescent before the eye, and brighter wing-coverts. The brownish females have a dull speculum. _Q. versicolor_, of America south of Paraguay, and _Q. puna_, of Peru, Bolivia, and Chili, have plumbeous wing-coverts; _Q. cyanoptera_, of western and southern South America, has the head and lower surface chestnut.