FA3L LIV. DARTERS 



311 



orange, with white edges. This species is found along the 



western Gulf coast and has been seen as far north as Kansas 



and southern Illinois. 



Length, 25 ; wing, lOi (lO-lOi) ; tail, 6^ ; tarsus, If ; culmen, If. 

 West Indies and Central America, to the southern United States. 



FAMILY LIV. DARTERS (ANHINGIDJE) 



A small, tropical family (4 species) of very long-necked, 

 short-legged swimming birds of fresh-water swamj)s. AVhen 

 alarmed, they have the habit, like the grebes, of sinking 

 quietly backward into the water and swimming to a safe place, 

 keeping only the head and neck above the surface. "When in 

 this position, they present the appearance of water-snakes, 

 whence they derive one of their common names. Even when 

 perching on limbs of trees above the water, they can, when 

 disturbed, drop into and sink noiselessly under the water, 

 making hardly a rip- 

 ple on the surface. 

 They resemble the 

 cormorants in appear- 

 ance, and like them 

 and the auks, they use 

 their Avings in swim- 

 ming under water. 



1. Anhinga (118. 

 Anhinga anhinga). — 

 A southern, very 

 long-necked, slender- 

 billed, short-legged, 

 swimming and diving 

 bird; glossy, greenish- 

 black, with grayish 

 wings and tail. The 

 wing coverts and 

 shoulders are much 

 dotted and blotched Anhinga 



