78 SARCIDIORNIS CARUNCULATA 



Remarks : Mr. Crandall informs me that the three young specimens which he received in January, 

 1919, all reached maturity by June of the same year, and at that time one of the two males killed 

 the other one. 



DISTRIBUTION 



The northern and western limit of the range of this species has recently been extended by the cap- 

 v . ture of three live individuals, now in the New York Zoological Gardens, near Bar- 



celona, Venezuela (Crandall, Auk, vol. 36, p. 419, 1919). 



Mr. T. E. Penard informs me that from July 12 until November, 1918, this species appeared on the 

 British east coast of British Guiana, apparently in some numbers, numerous specimens hav- 



Guiana ing been taken (see also Penard, Auk, vol. 36, p. 564, 1919). 



Like its African relative it is seldom found in great numbers, and comparatively little is known of 

 its status, because it chiefly frequents the more inaccessible regions. It was reported from Cayenne 

 by Eyton (1838), but, so far as I know, there is no other reference to its occurrence in any of the Gui- 

 Brazil and anas until the very recent records mentioned above. At the mouth of the Amazons, it is 

 Amazons found on Marajo Island (Goeldi, 1894-1900) and in the interior in Amazonia, at Barro 

 do Rio Negro (von Pelzeln, 1868-71). It unquestionably inhabits all of central Brazil and has 

 been recorded from Maranhao (Goeldi and Hagmann, 1902), from Pernambuco (Forbes, 1881), 

 from Bahia (Wied, 1832), and from Rio Janeiro (H. and R. von Ihering, 1907). Very likely it occurs 

 Argentina m Minas Geraes and in Sao Paulo, as well as in Goyaz, for it was found by Natterer in 

 Goyaz Matto Grosso, at Sapitiba and at Caicara (von Pelzeln, 1868-71). There is one speci- 



Buenos m en in the British Museum from Ajo, Buenos Aires Province, collected by E. Gibson 



Aires in 1898. 



The present species must also occur in eastern Bolivia, though it has never been recorded from that 

 Paraguay country. But it is common in Gran Chaco, Paraguay (Kerr, 1901), and has been found 

 Salta and on the Pilcomayo (Dabbene, 1910). It is occasionally found even in northern Argen- 

 Tucuman tixia, whence it is known from Salta (Holmberg, fide Dabbene, 1910) and from Tucu- 

 man (Burmeister, 1872). 



GENERAL HABITS 



Almost nothing is known about this species in its forest haunts. Azara (1805) has 

 given as good an account as more recent writers. He says it is the shyest of all the 

 birds of Paraguay. Noseda informed him that there were many more females than 

 males, and that the latter sex was seen in considerable flocks, associated with other 

 ducks along fields and overflowed districts. The males went about alone or in very 

 small bands, and the natives insisted that the sexes represented entirely distinct 

 species. He found it difficult to convince them that such was not the case. Wied 

 (1832), speaking of Brazil, says that they resort to large swamps, surrounded by 

 reeds and grasses, and, in contradiction to the first writer, found them "not particu- 

 larly shy." Goeldi (1894-1900) agrees with Azara that this species is exceedingly 

 shy, and he found them always one of the first to take wing. Kerr (1901) speaks of 

 them as extremely shy in the Gran Chaco district of Paraguay, and living singly or 

 in pairs. 



I am unable to say whether this species is really as rare as the paucity of our knowl- 



