A Bird’s-Eye View 
one, having been sold in Europe for $200. 
With these divers may also be classed three 
families of very large and heavy birds — gan- 
nets, pelicans, and cormorants. ‘The first two 
of them would be very clumsy in water, were 
it not for the notable fact that Nature has 
supplied them with numerous interior air- 
chambers — ‘‘ water - tight compartments ’’ — 
which enable them to swim very lightly. One 
noticeable peculiarity of those in this group 
that are most distinctively divers, is the fact 
that they stand very erect on land, the legs be- 
ing placed so far behind that a horizontal posi- 
tion is impossible. Indeed, some species when 
on land use the tail as the third foot of a tripod 
for supporting themselves. Doubtless propul- 
sion under water is facilitated by having the 
feet well behind, instead of under the middle 
of the body. The birds of this group very 
consistently are among the least aerial of all our 
water fowl, although on occasion they can fly 
swiftly. On the border of this group, and 
leading into the next and more aérial division, 
is one that, while equally adept in sub-aque- 
ous practices, has a more airy form — that 
remarkable bird in Florida, called the anhinga, 
snake-bird, or ‘‘Grecian Lady.’’ ‘This is a 
gI 
