FAMILY ANATIDAE 



147 



Irregular winter visitor. Fairly common some years on the Pacific 

 side in the Canal Zone and eastern Panama province ; more common 

 near Changuinola, Bocas del Toro. 



In 1958, near Changuinola, I recorded 15 to 20 scattered over a 

 broad lagoon on January 17, and a hundred or more in the same water 

 on January 30. I was told that many were shot here each year. 

 Charles O. Handley, Jr., recorded one on the Rio Changuinola at 

 the mouth of the Rio Teribe on March 7, 1960. Griscom (Bull. Mus. 

 Comp. Zool., vol, 78, 1935, p. 297) reported "Canal Zone (once)," a 

 record based probably on the head of a female in the Lawrence 

 collection, collected by McLeannan in 1863. December 10, 1955, I 



Fig. 27. — Head of American widgeon, pato calvo, Mareca americana, male. 



saw an adult male near Juan Mina, Canal Zone, resting in a little 

 bay at one side of the main stream of the Rio Chagres, and on 

 January 1, 1956, I noted 3 at the Miraflores lakes beyond Fort 

 Clayton. In 1957 the birds were more common, as I saw a number at 

 the lakes last mentioned on January 13 and 21 and February 24. On 

 January 10, 1961, I shot a male on the Chagres at Juan Mina, which 

 appears to be the second complete specimen record for the isthmus. 



At the Rio La Jagua Karl Curtis shot one during a hunt in 1935, 

 and another January 15, 1938 (Bond and de Schauense, Acad. Nat. 

 Sci. Philadelphia, Mon. 6, 1944, p. 27). According to Mr. Curtis two 

 were killed there in 1954. There is record of one banded as a duckling 

 in Saskatchewan July 27, 1956, that was taken in southern Los 

 Santos, in December, 1957. 



In summary, it appears that these ducks come in fair numbers 

 from time to time but may not be present each year. 



