THE DARTERS 2043 



fish from their stomachs. Although often roosting on rocks, in some places cormo- 

 rants spend the night in trees, and on some parts of the Nile in Egypt they con- 

 gregate at night by hundreds in the palm trees fringing its banks. 



In China and Japan cormorants have been trained to fish for their masters from 

 time immemorial, and early in the seventeenth century this practice was in- 

 troduced into Europe as a sport, which was also followed in Holland, France, and 

 England. In the East the cormorants are taught to fish either from the bank or 

 from a raft, and although young or imperfectly-trained birds wear a collar, to 

 which a cord may be attached, to prevent them swallowing their prey, in many 

 cases the fully-trained birds are allowed to fish without any kind of restraint. Till 

 they receive permission to forage for themselves, they invariabty bring all they 

 capture to their owner; and it is said that when the bird has seized a fish too large for 

 it to carry unaided, another immediately comes to its assistance. In captivity cor- 

 morants are readily tamed, and exhibit considerable intelligence and attachment. 

 Although generally considered highly unpalatable, their flesh is relished by Arabs 

 and L,aps. Not only on account of being the largest member of the genus, but as 

 having been exterminated comparatively soon after its discovery, Pallas' s cormorant 

 (P. pei spicillatus) claims a passing notice. The plumage both above and below was 

 a deep lustrous green, with a blue gloss on the neck, and purplish reflections on the 

 scapulars. Long straw-colored feathers were interspersed on the neck, and the shaft 

 of the tail feathers was white. Pale, naked rings round the eyes suggested the spe- 

 cific name. Discovered on Behring island in 1741, this fine species seems to have 

 become extinct within about a century from that date. 



The darters, snake birds, or snake necks, form a group of four 

 species, readily distinguished from the cormorants by the much elon- 

 gated body, the extraordinary -long and thick neck, and the small flat and narrow 

 head terminating in a straight, conical beak with a point as sharp as a dagger, and 

 the edges of its mandibles finely serrated at the tip. The limbs are placed very far 

 back on the body, and have long toes; the wings are elongated, but bluntly pointed, 

 with the third quill the longest, and the long tail is rounded, and composed of 

 twelve stiff feathers gradually increasing in width toward their tips. Both the 

 quills and body feathers are lustrous, and generally show metallic tints, those on 

 the upper parts being more or less elongated. Of the four species, one (Plotus levail- 

 lanti} is African, another (P. anhinga) South American, a third (P. melanog aster) 

 inhabits India, Burma, and the Malay region, while the fourth is Australian. In 

 the African species the prevailing hue of the plumage is black, with a metallic- 

 green lustre; the feathers of the back and wing coverts having white shaft streaks. 

 The neck is rusty, with a blackish-brown streak running backward from the eye, 

 and beneath this a line of white. The iris is generally reddish yellow, the naked 

 areas on the head yellowish green, the beak horn color, and the foot greenish 

 gray. In the female the tints are less bright. The New- and Old- World species, 

 although externally so alike, differ remarkably in the structure of their internal 

 organs. 



Darters frequent the banks of rivers, lakes, and swamps, where they may be 

 found either singly, in pairs, or in immense flocks, and generally select localities 



