402 



THE KED-BACKED PELICAN THE DARTER TRIBE. 



tlii? manner they supply a very plentiful table; but still their natunj 

 p^luiiony cannot be reclaimed even by education. They have always 

 a striii"" fastened round their throats while they fish, for the purpose 

 of preventing them from swallowing their prey; as they would 

 oilurwiae at once satiate themselves, and discontinue their pursuit. 



OF THE DARTER TRIBE IN GENERAL. 



TfiESE birds have a small head, and a very long and slender neck. 

 J heir bill is long, straight, and sharp-pointed, and, at its base, are the 

 nostrils, situated in a long and conspicuous fissure. The face and 

 shin are bare of feathers. The legs are short, and the four toes are 

 all well webbed together. 



There are but three ascertained species of this tribe, and these are 

 confined to the hot latitudes; two to America, and the third princi- 

 pally to Ceylon and Java. They live almost entirely on fish, which 

 they take by darting forward their bill. They generally build their 

 nests and roost in the trees. 



THE BLACK-BELLIED DARTER, AND THE WHITE-BELLIED DARTER. 



Ill countries where every one's ideas run on poisonous animals, 

 any person who sees only the head and neck of the Black-bellied 

 Barter, while the rest of the body is concealed among the foliage, 

 would naturally mistake it for one of those serpents accustomed to 

 climb into and reside in trees. And the illusion is increased by ita 

 having all the tortuous motion of those reptiles. In whatever situa- 

 tion it happens to 

 be, whether swim- 

 ming, flying, oi" at 

 rest, the most appa- 

 rent and remarka- 

 ble ])ai t of its bodv 

 is its long and 

 picnder neck, wliicli 

 is constanll}' in na- 

 tion, except during 

 fliglit, when it be- 

 comes immovable 

 and extended, and 

 forms, with the tail, 

 a pisrfectly straight 

 and horizontal line. 

 Tiie princi]ial food 

 of the Black-bellied 

 J) a r tc r is fish, 

 which, if small 

 enough, it swallows 

 entire; but, if they are too large, it flies off with them to some rock oi 

 stump of a tree, where, fixing them under one of its feet, it tears them 

 to pieces with its bill. 



BLACE-BXIJJi:l> DARTEft. 



