FAMILY ANATIDAE 137 



I have recorded a wing bone of this species from deposits of Late 

 Pleistocene age at El Hatillo, west of Pese, Herrera, where it was 

 found by C. Lewis Gazin, during excavations in the fossil beds of 

 this area ( Wetmore, Wilson Bull., vol. 68, 1956, p. 327) . 



SARKIDIORNIS SYLVICOLA Ihering and Ihering: American Comb Duck; 



Pato Crestudo 



Figure 24 



Sarkidiornis sylvicola Ihering and Ihering, Cat. Fauna Brazileira, vol. 1, Aves 

 Brazil, 1907, p. 72. (Northeastern Brazil.) 



A very large duck with a rounded comb on the base of the bill 

 in the male ; back, sides, and spots on head and neck, black ; elsewhere 

 white. 



Description. — ^Length, male 610 mm., female 500 to 540 mm. Male, 

 with a fleshy comb on the bill, 35 by 50 mm. in the adult, smaller in 

 the immature ; feathers on back of head and upper hindneck curled, 

 forming a slight crest; center of crown, hindneck, and scattered 

 spots over sides of head and upper neck, black with a violet sheen ; 

 sides, back, wings, and tail black, with a sheen varying from blue 

 and violet to green and bronzy green ; rest of plumage white. 



Female, without the comb or crest ; sides grayish brown ; more 

 heavily spotted on head, and barred on back and sides of lower 

 neck. 



The species may be confused by hunters with the pato real, as the 

 two are about the same size. Males of the comb ducks are easily told 

 by the rounded, compressed ridge rising from the base of the bill 

 over the nostrils, this being very large in adults, and of fair size in 

 immature individuals. The females lack the comb but may be 

 recognized by the white underparts and the blackish spotting on 

 the white of the neck and sides of the head. 



"Bill dull lead color ; iris black or very dark brown ; legs and feet 

 dirty yellowish green." (Phillips, Nat. Hist. Ducks, vol. 1, 1922, 

 p. 77.) 



Measurements. — Males (4 from Panama, Venezuela, and Para- 

 guay), wing 327-365 (348), tail 129-135 (131), culmen from base 

 56.3-69.9 (63.3), tarsus 69.3-76.1 (73.5) mm. 



Female (1 from Paraguay), wing 301, tail 116, culmen from base 

 46.3, tarsus 52.8 mm. 



Resident. Tolerably common on the Rio Chucunaque in Darien ; 

 casual on the Rio La Jagua, eastern Panama. 



