254 



PLOTUS MELANOGASTER. 



will occupy the same tree for a series of years. They 

 commonly sit on a stump, which rises out of the water, 

 in the mornings of the spring-, and spread their winirs 

 to the sun, from which circumstance tney have obtained 

 the appellation of sun birds. They are difficult to be 

 shot when swimming 1 , in consequence of only their 

 heads being above the water." 



Never having 1 seen a specimen of the black-bellied 

 darter of Senegal and Java, I cannot give an opinion 

 touching its identity with ours. 



