INDIAN ZOOLOGY. 53 



XV. 



ANHINGA MELANOGASTER. 



THE BLACK-BELLIED ANHINGA. 



Plotus Melanogafter, Gmelin. Lin. i. 580. Latham-t vi. 624. 

 Index Ornith, ii. 895. 



WE give it this epithet, to diftinguifh it from an Ajm- Black-bellieb 

 . r ■ • , r^ 1 f, . Anhinga. 



rican fpecies with a ulvery belly *. 



This kind is found in Ceylon and "Java, but is not 

 peculiar to thofe illands -, a variety, if not the fame, being 

 met with in Senegal -f. 



It fits on the fhrubs that hang over the water j and, in 

 a country where every one's ideas are filled with ferpents, 

 often terrifies the pafTengers by fhooting out its long flen- 

 der neck, which, in their firfl furprize, they take for the 

 darting of fome fatal reptile. 



Its body is about the fize of that of a common duck, DEscRiPxiorf, 

 but the neck extremely long : the bill ftrait, long, and 

 fharp-pointed ; the upper part of a pale blue, the lower 

 reddifh. 



The eye is very piercing. 



* Found in 5?-a/?/. VxAe Marcgrave, HiJ}, Brajilia, «iS. 

 •{• Planches EnluminUs, 107. 



The 



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