DARTER, OR SNAKE BIRD. 251 



not in my power to ascertain. 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 mistaken 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 

 pourtrayed 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 surface, 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 

 soon 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 preening themselves, and, 

 probably, giving them a better opportunity than when 

 swimming of observing their finny prey. They crawl 

 from the water upon the limbs, and fix themselves in 

 an upright position, which they maintain in the utmost 

 silence. If there be foliage, or the long moss, they 

 secrete themselves in it in such a manner that they 

 cannot be perceived, unless one be close to them. 

 When approached, they drop into the water with such 

 surprising skill, that one is astonished how so large 

 a body can plunge with so little noise, the agitation of 



