DARTERS. 195 



The darters have only one carotid, though this character is not peculiar j for while 

 nearly all the other Steganopods have two, there is only one in two species of pelican 

 and one gannet. 



The pterylosis of the darter is veiy peculiar, and Nitzsch compares it with that of 

 the penguins, Inasmuch as the contour-feathers, which are small and soft, cover the 

 body nearly uniformly, all spaces being wanting except the lateral spaces of the trunk 

 and a narrow inferior space. 



Four very distinct species, although of very similar appearance, are known, all 

 from the tropics or warmer temperate regions. One is American, one from India and 

 southeastern Asia, one from Australia, and one from Africa, a distribution of the same 

 category as that of the Heliornithida?, Jacanida?, Rostratula, etc. 



In the following notes on the habits of the American species, by Dr. Brewer, are 

 found the explanations of the two common names by which the bird is known, 

 namely, 'darter,' and 'snake-bird,' the South American 'Anhingaj of Portuguese 

 origin, having the same meaning as the latter. Dr. Brewer says : " It lives principally 

 upon fish, which it seizes by rapidly darting upon them with its sharply-pointed and 

 slightly-toothed beak. In this movement its neck, which is very long, is thrust for- 

 ward with the force of a spring, aided by the muscles that are large and well devel- 

 oped in the lower and anterior portion of the neck. This is said to be the very first 

 among fresh-water divers, disappearing beneath the surface with the quickness of 

 thought, leaving scarcely a ripple on the spot, and reappearing, perhaps, with its head 

 only above the water for a moment, at a place several hundred yards distant. If hit, 

 and only wounded, this bird readily baffles all the endeavors of the sportsman to 

 secure it. When swimming, and unmolested, it is buoyant, and moves with its whole 

 body above the water ; but when in danger it sinks its body, leaving only the head 

 and neck out of the water, presenting the appearance of a portion of a large snake." 



Dr. Jerdon's account of the Indian species (A. melanogaster) indicates a cormo- 

 rant-like feature in the habits of the darter well worth mentioning. He says that they 

 hunt singly in general, or in scattered parties, but often roost in company, both at 

 night and in the middle of the day, when numbers may be seen perched on the trees 

 overhanging some tank or river. After feeding for some time, they perch on the 

 boughs of a tree, or on a pole or stone, and spread their wings out to dry, as the 

 cormorants do. 



The darters, like the cormorants, lay four eggs, light blue, with a white chalky 

 covering ; in fact, typical cormorant eggs, and greatly different from the single egg of 

 the tropic-bird, which seems to resemble the eggs of the petrels. 



LEONHAKD STEJNEGER. 



