Genus PLOTUS. 



Bill slender, straight, very acute at the tip; the commissure slightly recurved; gonys 

 pronounced and ascending ; nostrils very minute, basal and linear. Wings pointed, the 3rd quill 

 the longest, the 1st shorter than the 4th. Tail long, of 12 rigid feathers, the webs corrugated. 

 Tarsus shorter than in Phalacrocorax . 



Neck very slender, with a bend in the vertebra?, similar to that of the Heron. Scapulars 



elongated. 



PLOTUS MELANOGASTER. 



(THE DARTER.) 



Anhinga melanog aster, Forst. Ind. Zool. p. 22, pi. 12 (1781). 



Plotus melanogaster, Gm. ed. Syst. Nat. i. p. 580 (1788) ; Sykes, Cat., P. Z. S. 1832, p. 171 ; 

 Jerdon, Cat., Mack. Journ. 1840, xii. p. 222 ; Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. p. 299 

 (1849); Layard, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1854, xiv. p. 271; Jerdon, B. of Ind. iii. 

 p. 365 (1864); Holdsw. P. Z. S. 1872, p. 483; Salvadori, Uccelli di Born. p. 367 

 (1874); Legge, Ibis, 1875, p. 409; Hume, Nests and Eggs, iii. p. 661 (1875); id. Str. 

 Feath. 1878 (B. of Tenass.), p. 496, et 1879 (List B. of Ind.), p. 116. 



Ber schwarzbauehige Anhinga, Forster ; Black-bellied Darter, Lath. ; Snake-bird, Silver-laced 

 Snake-bird, popularly in India. Banwa, Hind. ; Goyar in Bengal ; Kallaki-pitta, 

 Telugu ; Bandang Ayer, Sumatra ; Pambuttara, Ceylonese Tamils. 



Biya kawa, Belli kawa, Sinhalese. 



Adult male and female (Ceylon). Length 36 - to 36-5 inches ; wing 13'0 to 13-6 ; tail 10-25 to 10-5; tarsus 1-3 to 



1-5 ; outer toe 2-8 ; inner toe 1*7 ; hind toe l - ; bill to gape 3-85 to 3-92, at front 3-2. — Male (Sambhur Lake). 



Length 37 - l inches ; wing 14-1, expanse 47"2 ; tail 10 - 5 ; tarsus 1-7; bill at front 3-9 (Adam). 

 Iris pearly white, with an inner and outer ring of yellow ; bill with the upper mandible brownish olive, paling into 



horny grey at the tip ; under mandible yellow, changing into greenish grey at the base ; legs and toes bluish : 



inside of tarsus and webs yellowish ; toes dusky at the tips. 



Adult male. Head and hind neck blackish brown, each feather with a distinct pale buff margin, increasing in width 

 at the sides of the lower part of the hind neck ; interscapular region, back, and upper tail-coverts glossy green- 

 black ; shoulders, just above the scapulars, with white spots, which lengthen out on the long lanceolate upper 

 scapular-feathers into silvery white streaks, the shafts being, however, black ; the lower scapulars are broad, with 

 the stripe on one side only of the shaft ; wings and tail green-black, the wing-coverts with broad, pointed, white 

 centres, lengthening on the greater series into very broad stripes ; the outer webs of the tail-feathers, as also those 

 of the broader scapulars, singularly corrugated ; points of the wing white ; a fine white line from the forehead 

 bordering the loral skin and extending to the eye ; face, throat, and upper part of fore neck white, passing in a 

 stripe from the face down the sides of the neck for about 6 inches ; centre of the fore neck paler than the sides, 

 the centre of the feathers being brownish, but the margins broader and whiter than on the latter ; on the upper 

 part these feathers gradually blend into the white of the throat, and on the lower become whitish, forming a pale 

 central streak; entire under surface, flanks, and sides of the neck just above the chest intense black, extending 

 up the fore neck in a point ; under wing black. 



Adult female (Trincomalie, January). A 7 ery similar to the male, but with the pale margins of the head- and neck- 



