146 ANHINGA OR SNAKE-BIRD. 
to be performed, being closed when they descend, expanded and de- 
elined to either side when they mount. During their migratory expe- 
ditions, they beat their wings at times in the manner of the Cormo- 
rant, and at other times sail like the Turkey Buzzard and some Hawks, 
the former mode being more frequently observed when they are passing 
over an extent of woodland, the latter when over a sheet of water. If 
disturbed or alarmed, they fly with continuous beats of the wings, and 
proceed with great velocity. As they find difficulty in leaving their 
perch without previously expanding their wings, they are also, when 
about to alight, obliged to use them in supporting their body, until 
their feet have taken a sufficient hold of the branch on which they de- 
sire to settle. In this respect, they exactly resemble the Florida Cor- 
morant. 
There are facts connected with the habits of birds which might af- 
ford a pretty good idea of the relative temperatures of different parts 
of the country during a given season; and those observed with regard 
to the Anhinga seem to me peculiarly illustrative of this circumstance. 
I have found the “ Grecian Lady” breeding on St John’s River in East 
Florida, near Lake George, as early as the 23d of February; having 
previously seen many of them caressing each other on the waters, and 
again carrying sticks, fresh twigs, and other matters, to form their nests, 
and having also shot females with the eggs largely developed. Now, 
at the same period, perhaps not a single Anhinga is to be seen in the 
neighbourhood of Natchez, only a few about New Orleans, in the east- 
ern parts of Georgia, and the middle maritime portions of South Caro- 
lina. In Louisiana this bird breeds in April or May, and in South 
Carolina rarely before June, my friend Bacumawn having found eggs, 
and young just hatched, as late as the 28th of that month. In North 
Carolina, where only a few pairs breed, it is later by a fortnight. 
I have already expressed my opinion that birds which thus breed 
so much earlier in one section of the country than in another, espe- 
cially when at great distances, may, after producing one or even two 
broods, in the same year, still have time enough to proceed toward higher 
latitudes for the purpose of again breeding. Actual observations have 
moreover satisfied me that individuals of the same species produced in 
warm latitudes have a stronger disposition toward reproduction than. 
