BIRDS OF KANSAS. 37 



close-set, sharp-pointed, fine bristly teeth; nostrils obliterated. Head small, 

 neck slender and greatly elongated (nearly as long as the wing); outer toe 

 about as long as the middle, or slightly shorter. Tail very long, fan shaped, 

 rounded, the feathers widened toward the ends, the outer webs of the inter- 

 medin, in fully adult birds, transversely corrugated or 'fluted.' 



" This singular family consists of but one genus, AiMnga, which has a rep- 

 resentative in the warmer parts of each of the great divisions of the earth." 



Genus ANHINGA Brisson. 

 "Characters the same as those of the family." 



Anhinga anhinga (Lixx.). 



ANHINGA. 

 PLATE m. 



A rare summer visitant. 



B. 628. R. 649. C. 760. G. 306, 15. U. 1, 18. 



Habitat. Tropical and subtropical America, north to South 



Carolina, southern Kansas and western Mexico. 



Sp. Char. ^^ Adult male, in full breeding plumage: Plumage of the neck 

 and body deep glossy black, with a faint greenish gloss; scapular and lesser 

 wing coverts marked centrally (longitudinally) with light hoary ash, these 

 markings elliptical on the upper part of the scapular region, linear or nearly 

 acicular on the longer scapulars, and broadly ovate on the wing coverts; exi)osed 

 surface of the middle and greater wing coverts light hoary ash; remainder of 

 the wings, with the tail, deep black, the latter less glossy, and broadly tijiped 

 with pale brown, passing into dirty whitish terminally. Sides of the occiput 

 and neck ornamented by lengthened, loose-webbed, hair-like feathers of dirty 

 white or pale grayish lilac; nuchal feathers elongated, hair-like, forming a sort 

 of loose mane, Upper mandible dusky olive, the edges yellow; lower mandible 

 bright yellow, the edges and tip greenish; bare space about the eye bluish 

 green; gular sac bright orange; iris bright carmine; tarsi and toes antei-iorly 

 <Uisky olive, the hind parts and webs yellow; claws brownish black. Adult 

 male, in winter: Similar to the above, but destitute of the whitish feathers of 

 the head and neck. Adult female, in full breeding plumage: Head, neck and 

 breast grayish buff, becoming grayish brown (sometimes quite dusky) on the 

 pileum and nape, the breast lighter, and bounded below by a narrow band of 

 dark chestnut, bordering the upper edge of the back of the abdomen; sides of 

 the upper part of the neck adorned with an inconspicuous longitudinal stripe of 

 short white, loose-webbed feathers. Rest of the plumage as in the male. Bill, 

 «tc., colored much as in the male, but Iris paler red (pinkish). Young, in first 

 winter: Similar to the adult female, but lower parts duller black ( the feathers 

 usually indistinctly tipped with grayish brown), the chestnut pectoral band en- 

 tirely absent; upper parts much duller black (the back decidedly brownish), 

 the light markings much smaller and more indistinct. Young, first plumage: 

 Similar to the above, but entire lower parts light grayish buff, darker poster!- 



