432 



PELICANS. 



only to be seen, which from their form, and the motion communicated to them 

 by the action of swimming, present a close resemblance to those of a snake. 

 Its food consists of fish, aquatic insects, newts, frogs, and other aquatic 

 animals. After feeding, it perches on a snag of some fallen tree in the forest, 

 nigh to its haunts, where it sits motionless for hours together. While thus 

 perched, it is more easily approached and shot than on the water, where it is 

 extremely watchful and circumspect. Ur. Livingstone says: "Their chief 

 time of feeding is by niglit ; and as the sun declines, they may be seen flying 



^- 



-mi 



L;lai.k i,ELLiED Darter (P/o/us mclanosaster). 



from their roosting-places to the fishing-grounds. This is a most difficult 

 bird to catch when disabled. It is thorouglily expert in diving, and goes down 

 so adroitly, and comes up in the most unlikely places, that the people, though 

 most skilful in the management of the canoes, can rarely secure them. The 

 tail of the darter is remarkably prolonged, and capable of being bent so as to 

 act both as a rudder in swimming and as a lever to lift the bird high enough 

 out of the water to give scope for its wings, so that it can rise at will by means 

 of this appendage." — " Missionary Travels in South Ajrica." 



The typical species of the sub-family is — 



The White-bellied Darter (PMus Anhini^d). an American bird, foui; J 

 along the banks of rivers and on marshy grounds, of which Mr. Ord gives us 

 the following particulars : " The first individual that I saw in Florida was 



