1064 SAKCIDIOENIS MELANONOTUS. 



B. of Ind. iii. p. 785 (1864) ; Holdsw. P. Z. S. 1872, p. 479 ; Hume, Nests and Eggs, 



iii. p. 636 (1S75); Legge, Ibis, 1875, p. 407; Butler & Hume, Str. Feath. 1876, p. 27. 

 Sarkidiomis regia, Eyton, apud Kelaart, Prodromus, Cat. p. 136 (1852). 

 Sarcidiornis melanonotus (Penn.), Hume, Str. Feath. 1879, p. 114 (List B. of Ind.). 

 Die schwarzrucMge Gans, Forster, I. c. ; Oye de la cote de Coromandel, Buff. PI. Enl. 937 ; 



Black-backed Goose, Jerdon ; Comh-Duck, Spurred Luck, Sportsmen. NuJchta, Hind. ; 



Sutu chilluwa, Telugu ; Mukan-Tara, Ceylonese Tamils. 

 Kabalittia, Sinhalese. 



Adult male (India, breeding-season). Wing 15-3 inches ; tail 0-0 ; tarsus 2-7 : middle toe 2-7, its claw (straight) 0-5 ; 

 bill to gape (straight) 2-5, height at base 1-2: height of comb 1*8, length at base 2"0. The comb rises from the 

 forehead, its base extending to within 0'3 inch of the nail ; it is very much smaller at other times. 



Iris dark brown ; bill black ; comb black ; "legs and feet greenish plumbeous " (Jerdon). 



Head, neck, throat, and entire under surface white, shading into cinereous grey on the flanks ; the feathers of the 

 forehead tipped with black so deeply as to hide the white bases ; those of the crown less so ; a black bronzed 

 stripe extending from the nape down the hind neck, but not to the lower edge of the white, and thence towards 

 the sides of the chest ; and as far as this extends the feathers on the sides of the neck are spotted with black ; 

 back, wings, and tail glossy green-black, highly illumined on the wing-coverts and secondaries, which have a 

 combined metallic coppery lustre as well ; primaries slaty black ; middle of the back brownish grey, blending into 

 the metallic colour of the rump : tail blackish brown ; sides of the rump from the coverts to the thighs brown ; 

 axillaries black ; under wing brownish black. 



Female (Ceylon : Brit. Mus.). Wing 11-5 inches; tail 4-5; tarsus 2-0 ; middle toe 2-2; bill to gape (straight) 2-0 ; 



comb absent. 

 Similar to the male, but the colours of the upper surface less brilliant, and the back and rump whitish, passing into 



grey on the upper tail-coverts ; the neck blacker than in the male ; the brown patch at the sides of the rump not 



present. 



Obs. Von Heuglin unites the South- and North-African form (S. afrieana, Eyton) with the Indian ; but other 

 authors hold it to be distinct from S. melanonotus. I have not met with any African specimens, and am 

 therefore unable to offer any personal opinion on the subject. The Indian bird is said to be larger than the 

 African; and the director of the Cape-Town Museum, in writing to the Secretary of the Zoological Society on 

 the subject, among other points of difference, notes that the white of the neck encroaches on the back between 

 the shoulders, and that the lower part of the back is dirty whitish grey. A right determination, however, cannot 

 be arrived at until a series of specimens from both localities have been carefully compared; and this, so far as 

 I can ascertain, has not yet been done. The wing-dimension, according to A 7 on Heuglin, of North-east African 

 specimens is 13-0 to 14-0 inches. 



The American Black-backed Goose, S. carunculata, Lieht., differs from the present species in being larger, in having 

 the flanks black, the secondaries more highly bronzed, and the tail longer, the latter point being noticeable on 

 comparing the living specimens of the two species in the Zoological Gardens. 



Distribution. — The " Comb-Duck " is more common in Ceylon than is generally supposed by those who 

 have not visited the forest wilds of the island. Though nowhere numerous, it is found here and there in 

 jungle-begirt tanks in the north and cast, and no doubt wanders about a good deal, as it is said to do in India, 

 repairing to the most secluded spots to breed, and afterwards affecting some of the larger and wilder sheets 

 of water throughout the forests and near the sea-shore. Layard speaks of it as not uncommon on the tanks 

 of the Vanni; and Mr. Parker writes me that it is tolerably common, but not plentiful, in the North-western 

 Province and in the Anaradhapura district, frequenting the Madewatchiya and other tanks. It is found at 

 Mullaittivu and at Toopoor, south of Trincomalie. In the Batticaloa district it affects the Ambare, Irukka- 

 man, and other tanks; and Mr. Fisher, C.C.S., met with it near Yala, and found it breeding there. It 

 likewise affects Tissa-Maha-Rama tank, and is found, I believe, at Urubokka and other tanks near Taugalla. 

 This bird was first described from Ceylon by Forster, who erroneously states that it is common in the hills. 



