PLOTIN &. 441 
Bill dusky above, yellowish on the sides; irides yellow; legs 
lack. 
Forehead, nape, and neck, mottled brown, each feather being 
dark-brown with a pale edging, the median line of the head, 
nape, and hind neck being darker than the rest, and the median 
line below paler; a minute white line from the base of the bill 
over the eye ; the cheeks, chin, and throat, white, continued in a 
line from below the eye down the side of the neck for nearly 
half its length, and gradually overcome on the sides of the fore- 
neck by the brown feathers which run along the sides of the 
neck, and form a narrow line passing up through the white to the 
gape; upper back gradually changing from the brown of the 
hind-neck into the brownish-black of the rest of the dorsal 
region, and on the sides spotted with white, the spots commenc- 
ing at first as small oval drops, and gradually increasing in size 
and shape to the scapulars, which are long and lanceolate, and 
deep black with the central portion silvery-white ; wing-coverts 
black, spotted with silvery-white ; tertiaries and the last secon- 
daries also with a silvery streak on their outer webs; quills and 
tail deep raven black; the feathers of the tail with a barred 
appearance on their outer webs, caused by a series of transverse 
elevated ridges which are gradually lost on the outermost 
feathers ; lower portion of the neck, breast, and all the lower 
parts, glossy brownish-black. 
The female has the head and neck”pale whity-brown, lightest 
on the lower sides, and albescent on the chin, face, and throat, 
and a fulvous patch on the sides of the neck, continued from the 
paler median line of the lower side of the neck and extending to 
the shoulder ; back browner than in the male, becoming black 
on the rump; wing-coverts more or less brown; otherwise as 
in the male. 
The young birds are colored somewhat as the female, and the 
nestlings have white down, with the wings and tail blackish. 
The Snake Bird is very common throughout the district. 
It is a permanent resident breeding from the commencement 
until long after the rains. They construct a flat stick nest on 
some tree, growing well into the water. The eggs, four in num- 
ber, are elongated ovals, pointed more or less at one end, with a 
whitish or greenish-white chalky covering, which is easily removed 
by scraping. The real shell is of a greenish-blue color. They 
measure 2°13 inches in length by about 1:37 in breadth. 
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