136 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I50 



The only published record that refers to the Canal Zone is that of 

 Osbert Salvin in 1863, who said of it (Sclater and Salvin, Proc. Zool. 

 Soc. London, 1864, p. Z7Z), following his brief visit at Lion Hill, 

 "Common in the swamps of the low forests." Karl Curtis has in- 

 formed me that he found these ducks common on the lower Chagres 

 and along its tributary the Rio Indio below Gatiin in early days on 

 the Isthmus, but through hunting, and as the formation of Gatun 

 Lake flooded out their haunts, they have become rare. 



The pato real in Panama is the duck most prized by hunters and the 

 one that is universally known. It is curious, therefore, that the 

 definite information available on its distribution, as outlined above, 

 covers a somewhat limited area. It is probable that it ranges also along 

 the Caribbean coast. 



These ducks frequent small channels or swampy places in wooded 

 areas, where they range singly or in small groups. I have seen them 

 flying morning and evening, sometimes high in air, but more often 

 low, above water. On Isla Coiba at sunrise one morning half a dozen 

 passed along the shore of Bahia Damas, the only time that I have seen 

 them over salt water. At the La Jagua Hunting Club they are found 

 in fair abundance. From 1936 to 1943 the number shot annually 

 ranged from 13 (in 1936) to 79 (in 1939). One evening here, as I 

 was writing notes by lamp light, one, apparently confused by the 

 light, flew against the side of the house. 



Males often are nearly double the size of females and are decidedly 

 heavier. The late Dr. Herbert Clark weighed 65 shot at La Jagua 

 and recorded the heaviest as 7\ pounds (3| kilos). Phillips (Nat. 

 Hist. Ducks, vol. 1, 1922, p. 57) reports males with a maximum 

 weight of 4 to 5 kilos, and females of 2^ kilos. 



The nesting season appears to be in June, as on June 28, 1953, at 

 La Jagua I was told of a female seen with 11 newly hatched young. 

 The eggs are laid in hollows in trees, rarely amid rushes, on a scanty 

 amount of down from the parent bird. The setting is usually 8 or 9, 

 occasionally more, perhaps when 2 females join. The eggs are glossy 

 white with a bufly tinge, oval in form. Schonwetter (Handb. Ool., 

 pt. 2, 1960, p. 125) gives the range of measurement as 56.5-67.5 X 

 42.7-48.0 mm. 



In two stomachs of males taken in the Canal Zone March 14, 1920, 

 one held many remains of a thick-shelled seed that was not identified. 

 The other was filled with fragments of seeds of some species of 

 pickerelweed (Pontederiaceae) and a few of a sedge (Fimbristylis) . 



