882 SNAKE-BIRD 



cock, having the head, neck and breast of a more or less deep buff, 

 bounded beneath by a narrow chestnut band ; but otherwise her 

 plumage is like that of her mate, only not so bright in colour. The 

 habits of this species have been repeatedly described by American 

 writers, and those of its congeners, to be immediately mentioned, 

 seem to be essentially the same. The Snake-bird frequents the 

 larger rivers or back-waters connected with them, where it may be 

 seen resting motionless on some neighbouring tree, generally choos- 

 ing a dead branch, or on a " snag " projecting from the bottom, 

 whence it plunges beneath the surface, in pursuit of its fishy prey, 

 to emerge, in the manner before related, shewing little more than 

 its slender head and neck. Its speed and skill under water are 

 almost beyond exaggeration, and it exhibits these qualities even in 

 captivity, taking — apparently without effort — fish after fish that 

 may be introduced into its tank, however rapidly they may swim 

 and twist, and only returning to its perch when its voracious appe- 

 tite is for the moment appeased or its supply of food temporarily 

 exhausted. Then, after adjusting its plumage with a few rapid 

 passes of its bill, and often expanding its wings, as though. Cor- 

 morant-fashion, to dry them, it abandons itself to the pleasurable 

 and passive process of digestion, reawaking to activity at the call 

 of hunger. Yet at liberty it will indulge in long flights, and those 

 of the male at the breeding-season are ostentatiously performed 

 in the presence of his mate, around whom he plays in irregular 

 zigzag courses. The nest is variously placed, but almost always 

 in trees or bushes overhanging the water's edge, and is a large 

 structure of sticks, roots and moss, in which are laid four eggs 

 with the white chalky shell that is so characteristic of most 

 Steganopodous birds. Not unfrequently several or even many 

 nests are built close together, and the locality that suits the Snake- 

 bird suits also many of the Herons, so that these, its distant rela- 

 tives, are often also its near neighbours.^ The African Snake-bird, 

 P. congensis (or levaillanti of some authors), inhabits the greater 

 part of tliat continent from Natal northwards ; but, though met 

 with on the White Nile, it is not known to have occurred in Egypt, 

 a fact the more remarkable seeing that Canon Tristram found it 

 breeding in considerable numbers on the Lake of Antioch, to which 

 it is a summer- visitor, and it can hardly reach its home without 

 passing over the intervening country. The male is easily dis- 

 tinguishable from that of the American species by its rufous 

 coronal patch, its buff throat and its chestnut greater wing-coverts. 

 A third species, P. melanogaster, ranges from Madagascar to India, 



^ The cnrious but apparently well-attested fact of the occurrence in England, 

 near Poole, in June 1851, of a male bird of this species [Zoologist, pp. 3601, 

 3654) has been overlooked by several writers who profess to mention all cases of 

 a similar character. 



