138 



BRANCH VERTEBRATA. 



FIG 233. 



ORDER STECANOPODES (ste gan o po'dez). 



The foot-covered birds are readily recognized by the 



totipalmate feet and unfeathered 

 gular pouch a sac beneath the 

 bill sometimes holding a gallon, 

 and used for a temporary larder. 



The Snake-bird is found 

 throughout our Southern coasts. 

 It is adapted to catching its prey 

 under water, either by impaling 

 upon its sharp, pointed beak, or by 

 seizing between its serrated man- 

 dibles. Its favorite position is just 

 above the water, into which it 

 drops head first, so quietly as to 

 make scarcely a ripple. Swim- 

 ming beneath till it finds tufts of reeds, perhaps a thou- 

 sand feet away, it shows at the sur- 

 face only its bill and eyes, as it 

 reconnoiters the neighborhood. The 

 crimped tail-feathers serve as a rud- 

 der, but the wings are not used in 

 swimming.* 



The Brown Pelican flies ten to 

 twenty feet above the surface, watch- 

 ing the shoals of fish beneath, till a 

 chance offers, when it falls flatwise, 

 often with a force that immerses the 



I'lo Ins tin Inn yu. 

 Snake-bird, or Water-turkey. ( ,'5.) 



FIG. 234. 



* Even before the young leave the nest, a para- 

 sitic worm is found in their stomach, which works 

 its way to the brain, and there thrives in clusters 

 of ten or more. Nineteen-twentieths of both young 



Pel e ccT mis fas' CM*. 

 Brown Pelican. ( J,T.) 



and adult specimens are thus infested, and yet are in apparently good health. 



