Genus CI. PLOTUS. DARTER. 

 Species. P. ANHINGA. 



DARTER, OR SNAKE-BIRD.* 



[Plate LXXIV. Fig. 1, Male.] 



Plotus anhinga, Linn. Syst. ed. 12, torn, i., p. 218. — Gmel. Syst. i., p. 580, 1. — 

 Ind. Orn. p. 895, 1. Plotus melanogasta; Id. p. 896, var. B., var. C. — Anhinga 

 Brasiliensihus Tupinamh. Marcgrav. Hist. Nat. Bras. p. 218. — V Anhinga, Briss. 

 VI., p. 476. — Salerne, p. 375. — Buff. Ois. viii., p. 448. Anhinga noir de Ca- 

 yenne, PI. Enl. 960. — White-bellied Darter, Lath. Gen. Syn. iii., p. 622, 1. 

 Black-bellied Darter, Id. p. 624, var. A. pi. 106. Id. p. 625, var. B. — Colymhus 

 colubrinus, Snake-bird, Bartram, p. 132, 295. 



Head, neck, whole body above and below, of a deep shining black, 

 with a green gloss, the plumage extremely soft, and agreeable to the 

 touch ; the commencement of the back is ornamented with small oblong 

 ashy white spots, which pass down the shoulders, increasing in size 

 according to the size of the feathers, and running down the scapulars ; 

 wings and tail of a shining black, the latter broadly tipped with dirty 

 white ; the lesser coverts are glossed with green, and are spotted with 

 ashy white ; the last row of the lesser coverts, and the coverts of the 

 secondaries, are chiefly ashy white, which forms a large bar across the 

 wing ; the outer web of the large scapulars is crimped ; tail rounded, 

 the two under feathers the shortest, the two upper feathers, for the 

 greater part of their length, beautifully crimped on their outer webs, 

 the two next feathers in a slight degree so ; bill dusky at the base and 

 above, the upper mandible brownish yellow at the sides, the lower 

 mandible yellow ochre ; inside of the mouth dusky ; irides dark crim- 

 son ; the orbit of the eye, next to the plumage of the head, is of a 

 greenish blue color, this passes round, in the form of a zigzag band, 

 across the front — the next color is black, which entirely surrounds the 

 eye ; eyelids of a bright azure, running into violet next to the eyeball ; 

 lores greenish blue ; naked skin in front black ; jugular pouch jet black ; 

 hind-head subcrested ; along the sides of the neck there runs a line of 

 loose unwebbed feathers, of a dingy ash color, resembling the plumage 

 of callow young, here and there on the upper part of the neck one per- 

 ceives a feather of the same ; on the forehead there is a small knob or 



* Named in the plate Black-bellied Darter. 

 Vol. in.— 9 (129) 



