PHALACROCORACIDJS PLOTUS 13 



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568. Plotus rufus. Snake Bird. 



Plotus rufus, Lacep. et Daud. in Buff. Hist. Nat. (18 Didot ed.) Ois. 

 xvii, p. 81 (1802) ; Grant, Cat. B. M. xxvi, p. 412 (1898) ; Oates,~Cal. 

 B. Eggs, ii, p. 207 (1902). 



Plotus congensis, Cranch in Titckey's Exped. Riv. Zaire App. 4, p. 408 

 (1818) ; Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 378 (1867) ; Barratt, Ibis, 1876, p. 214. 



Plotus levaUlanti, Licht. Verz. DouU. p. 87 (1823) ; Gurney, Ibis, 1859, 

 p. 251, 1863, p. 332 ; Kirk, Ibis, 1864, p. 338; Gurney in Anderssoris 

 B. Damaral. p. 367 (1872) ; Buckley, Ibis, 1874, p. 391 ; Gates, 

 Matabeleland, p. 328 (1881) ; Oakley, Trans. S. A. Phil. Soc. ii, p. 85 

 (1881) ; Shelley, Ibis, 1882, p. 368 [Quaequae River] ; Holub & Pel- 

 zeln, Orn. Siid-Afr. p. 333, 2 plates of skeleton ; Butler, Feilden and 

 Reid, Zool. 1882, p. 429 ; Sharpe, ed. Layard's B. S. Afr. p. 782 

 (1884); Tristram, Ibis, 1886, p. 41, pi. iii ; Symonds, Ibis, 1887, 

 p. 336 ; Fleck, Journ. Ornith. 1894, pp. 365, 379 ; Shelley, B. Afr. i, 

 p. 161 (1896) ; Woodward Bros. Natal B. p. 204 (1899) ; Marshall, 

 Ibis, 1900, p. 268. 



Plotus capensis, Layard, Ibis, 1869, p. 77. 



Anhinga rufa, lieichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 95 (1900). 



" Anhinga," " Darter " and " Sweet-water Duiker " of some authors. 



FIG. 4. Head of Plotus 



Description. Adult male. Crown, back of the neck and upper 

 back dark brown, very finely mottled with dark rufous and black ; the 

 back with a few white centres to the feathers ; lower back, tail and 

 wings black ; scapulars, lesser and median wing-coverts elongate 

 and lanceolate in shape, with a median white stripe ; greater coverts 

 bronzy-brown on the outer web, some of the inner secondaries also 

 with a median stripe of the same colour ; below the throat and neck 

 rufous ; a very narrow band of feathers bordering the throat, fore- 

 head and naked skin round the eye and continued for about 'four 

 inches along the side of the neck white ; above this latter a broader 



