1064 
SAKCIDIOENIS MELANONOTUS. 
B. of Ind. iii. p. 785 (1864) ; Holdsw. P. Z. S. 1872, p. 479 ; Hume, Nests and Eggs, 
iii. p. 636 (1875); Legge, Ibis, 1875, p. 407 ; Butler & Hume, Str. Feath. 1876, p. 27. 
SarJcidiomis regia , Eyton, cqmd Kelaart, Prodromus, Cat. p. 186 (1852). 
Sarcidiornis melanonotus (Penn.), Hume, Str. Feath. 1879, p. 114 (List B. of Ind.). 
Die schwarzruckige Gans, Forster, l. c. ; Oye de la cote de Coromandel, Buff. PL Enl. 937 ; 
Black-backed Goose, Jerdon; Comb-Duck, Spurred Duck, Sportsmen. Nukhta, Hind.; 
Sutu chilluiva, Telugu ; Mnkan-Tara, Ceylonese Tamils. 
Kabalittici , Sinhalese. 
Adult male (India, breeding-season). Wing 15'3 inches ; tail 6-0 ; 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 ; 
bade, 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 1T5 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-covert-s ; the neck blacker than in the male ; the brown patch at the sides of the rump not 
present. 
Obs. Yon Heuglin unites the South- and North- African form ( S . africana, 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 Yon Heuglin, of North-east African 
specimens is 13-0 to 14-0 inches. 
The American Black-backed Goose, S. carunculaia, Licht., 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 east, 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, Irulcka- 
man, and other tanks; and Mr. Fisher, C.C.S., met with it near Yala, and found it breeding there. It 
likewise affects Tissa-Maka-Eama tank, and is found, I believe, at Urubokka and other tanks near Tangalla. 
This bird was first described from Ceylon by Forster, who erroneously states that it is common in the hills. 
