SNAKE-BIRD. 375 



cimen, which was shot by my fellow-traveller, Mr. T. Peale, 

 on the first of March, 1818, in a creek below the Cow Ford, 

 situated on the river St. John, in East Florida. We saw some 

 others in the vicinity, but owing to their extreme vigilance and 

 shyness, we could not procure them. 



From the description of the White-bellied Darter of Latham 

 and others, which is unquestionably this species, one would be 

 inclined to conjecture, that the bird figured in our plate, as the 

 female, is the young male. But this point it is not in my power 

 to ascertain. The specimens in Peale's Museum, from which 

 Wilson took his figures, are labelled male and female. All the 

 Darters which I saw, while in Florida, were males. 



The Snake-bird is an inhabitant of the Carolinas, Georgia, 

 the Floridas and Louisiana; and is common in Cayenne and 

 Brazil. It seems to have derived its name from the singular 

 form of its head and neck, which, at a distance, might be mis- 

 taken for a serpent. In those countries where noxious animals 

 abound, we may readily conceive, that the appearance of this 

 bird, extending its slender neck through the foliage of a tree, 

 would tend to startle the wary traveller, whose imagination had 

 portrayed objects of danger lurking in every thicket. Its habits, 

 too, while in the water, have not a little contributed to its name. 

 It generally swims with its body immerged, especially when 

 apprehensive of danger, its long neck extended above the sur- 

 face, and vibrating in a peculiar manner. The first individual 

 that I saw in Florida, was sneaking away to avoid me, along 

 the shore of a reedy marsh, which was lined with alligators, 

 and the first impression on my mind was that I beheld a snake; 

 but the recollection of the habits of the bird seon undeceived 

 me. On approaching it, it gradually sank; and my next view 

 of it was at many fathoms distance, its head merely out of the 

 water. To pursue these birds at such times is useless, as they 

 cannot be induced to rise, or even expose their bodies. 



Wherever the limbs of a tree project over, and dip into, the 

 water, there the Darters are sure to be found, these situations 

 being convenient resting places for the purpose of sunning and 



