234 BULLETIN 121, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



smaller size. At another time we placed before it a number of fisbes about 

 seven and a half inches long, of which it swallowed nine in succession. It 

 would devour at a meal forty or more fishes about three inches and a half 

 long. On several occasions it was fed on plaice, when it swallowed some that 

 were four inches broad, extending its throat, and compressing them during their 

 descent into the stomach. It did not appear to relish eels, as it ate all the 

 other sorts first, and kept them to the last ; and after having swallowed them, 

 it had great difficulty in keeping them down, but, although for awhile thwarted, 

 it would renew its efforts, and at length master them. When taken to the 

 tide-point at the foot of my friend's garden, it would now and then after diving 

 return to the surface of the water with a cray-fish in its mouth, which it pressed 

 hard and dashed about in' its bill, evidently for the purpose of maiming it, 

 before it would attempt to swallow it, and it never caught a fish without bring- 

 ing it up to subject it to the same operation. 



Fish undoubtedly form the principal part of this bird's diet and 

 it is especialljT^ well adapted to catch them, with its skill as a diver, 

 its speed under water and its long neck, controlled by highly de- 

 veloped, special muscles and armed with a spearlike beak, which may 

 be darted in any direction swiftly and accurately. Mr. N. B. Moore's 

 unpublished notes on this species in Florida show that it does not 

 fish exclusively in fresh water, for he frequently saw it diving in 

 the tidal waters of a bay between two oyster bars. 



Behavior. — Though ungainly in appearance and somewhat awk- 

 ward in its movements when perched on a tree, it is really a graceful 

 bird on the wing with splendid powers of flight ; it clings somewhat 

 clumsily to the branch on which it sits, but its totipalmate feet hold 

 it securely, as it spreads its broad wings in the sun to dry them or 

 flaps them vigorously for exercise, its ample tail serving to balance it. 

 As it launches into the air it is evident that the broad expanse of 

 wings and tail, in proportion to its small, compact bod}^, are amply 

 sufficient to sustain it in rapid, strong, and protracted flight. The neck 

 is outstreached, usually to its full extent, but sometimes with a partial 

 fold near the body, the tail is spread as a rudder and the wings are 

 moved rather rapidly as the bird forges steadily ahead in a straight 

 line. Like other Steganopodes, it sets its wings and scales at inter- 

 vals, when it suggests, in appearance and manner, the flight of a 

 Cooper's hawk. One of the favorite pastimes of a flock of water- 

 turkeys is to indulge in aerial exercise by rising from their roost, 

 mounting high in the air and soaring in circles gradually upwards 

 until almost out of sight, suggesting in their movements the flight of 

 the Buteos. After gazing in admiration at such a spectacle the ob- 

 server may be suddenly surprised to see one after another of the birds 

 fold its wings and dart downwards, swift as an arrow. 



In the water it is even more at home than in the air, where it swims 

 gracefully and swiftly on the surface or sneaks away with its body 

 submerged and only its snake-like head and neck showing in sinuous 

 curves ; sometimes only its bill is seen cutting the smooth surface and 



