656 



CLASS AVES. 



dibles. If the fish which it catches is small, it swallows it 

 entire, without leaving the water. If too large, it carries it 

 on a rock, or the trunk of a tree, and divides it with its bill 

 and feet. 



When the anhingas fly, the neck, stretched out, forms a 

 horizontal line with the tail ; but when they are at rest, its 

 perpetual oscillation considerably augments its resemblance to 

 a snake. Being extremely wild, these birds are but seldom 

 seen on land ; and when they swim, their head is almost the 

 only part which is out of the water, into which they plunge 

 altogether on the slightest appearance of danger, and do not 

 reappear, but at considerable distances. Even then, they 

 only show themselves for the time which is necessary for 

 respiration. Such is their cunning, that having dived at the 

 distance of an hundred paces beyond the pursuer, they 

 emerge to respire the air at more than a thousand paces be- 

 hind him, until finding some reeds, they conceal themselves 

 there, and appear no more. Their skin is very thick, and the 

 flesh oily and ill-flavoured. 



The Plotus Anhinga, according to Bartram, live in small 

 societies, and assemble on the dry branches Avhich hang over 

 rivers. When surprised, they drop into the water, as if dead, 

 and after one or two minutes, they reappear, at a great dis- 

 tance, showing nothing but the neck, and sometimes the end 

 of the tail. During the heat of the day, they fly, in great 

 numbers, to a considerable elevation in the air, over lakes and 

 rivers. 



The Phaeton, or Tropic Birds, received from Linnaeus 

 the former appellation, because, from their habitual residence 

 under the burning zone, bounded by the tropics, they seem 

 attached to the chariot of the sun. From this climate they 

 remove but little, and are rarely seen beyond the 21st parallel 

 of south latitude. Their appearance, accordingly, indicates 

 to mariners their approaching passage under this zone, from 

 whatever side they may arrive. Still they advance sea-ward, 



