The Anhingas, or Darters 131 



THE ANHINGAS, OR DARTERS 



(Family Anhingidce) 



The Anhingas, Darters, or Snake-birds are readily distinguished from the 

 )ther members of the group and more particularly from their nearest of kin, the 

 Cormorants, by their elongated bodies, excessively long, slender, snake-like 

 leeks, very small, narrow heads, and the slender, nearly straight, and very sharp- 

 minted bills. The bill is not hooked at the tip although somewhat serrated, 

 "he neck has "a bend at the 8th or gth vertebra, and is provided with a peculiar 

 lechanism which enables the bird, by suddenly straightening the neck, to 

 msfix with its bill the fishes it captures." The wings are quite long and 

 minted, while the rounded tail is composed of twelve stiff, somewhat wedge- 

 shaped feathers, the broadest end outward, in addition to which the middle 

 >air are transversely ribbed. The body is nearly uniformly clothed with small, 

 rather soft, contour feathers, and very delicate down feathers. With the excep- 

 tion of the lateral spaces of the trunk, only a narrow inferior bare space is to be 

 mnd. In length these birds range from about twenty-eight to thirty-six inches. 

 Although only four species of Darters are known, they enjoy a wide distribu- 

 tion in the tropics or warmer regions of both hemispheres, one species, the Snake- 

 }ird, or Water Turkey (A. anhinga), being found over the whole of tropical and 

 ibtropical America, ranging north to South Carolina, southern Illinois, and 

 /estern Mexico. It is one of the largest species, being from thirty-two to 

 thirty-six inches in length. The male has the upper parts glossy greenish 

 black, the wing-coverts spotted with silver-gray; the lower parts are deep 

 black. The female and young are more grayish, while the male is provided 

 with a sort of mane of elongated hair-like feathers. The African Darter (A. 

 levaillanlii) is found in North Syria, northern Africa, and Madagascar. It is 

 dark brown or reddish brown above, with a white band extending from the eye 

 for about five inches down each side of the neck. The Indian or Black-bellied 

 Darter (A. mdanogaster) is very widely distributed, ranging from Mesopotamia 

 to India, Ceylon, and the Indo-Chinese countries, and through the Malay 

 Peninsula to Borneo and the Philippines; it is quite similar to the last. 

 The Southern Darter (^4 . nova-hollandia), found in Australia, New Guinea, and 

 New Zealand, is glossy black above and has the white stripes on the sides of 

 the neck much as in the Indian Darter. 



I select the following account of the habits from Dr. Brewer's history of the 

 American species, the habits of the others being similar. "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 forward with the force of a spring, aided by the muscles, that are large 

 and well developed in the lower and anterior portion of the neck. When fish- 

 ing, the Anhinga stands with only its head and neck above the water ; when it 

 makes a plunge it remains a long while beneath the surface; and when it rises 

 again, the long and undulating neck has somewhat the appearance of a serpent. 



