226 FULLY WEB-FOOTED BIRDS 



decidedly a dangerous weapon. One well-aimed stroke is 

 enough to stab any ordinary bird to death, or destroy an eye. 

 In a cageful of Darters the presence of a quarrelsome bird is 

 usually made known by the dead body of a cagemate that has 

 been foully murdered. 



In its home the habits of the Snake-Bird interested me 

 greatly. Almost invariably it perches on a dead tree, or a 

 branch which overhangs water, preferably a small running 

 stream. Its neighbors are the two white egrets, the Louisi- 

 ana and little blue herons, and an occasional black vulture. 

 Seldom indeed is one of these birds found swimming in the 

 water, but Mr. C. E. Jackson once very dexterously speared 

 one from his boat, as it was diving under him. 



When your boat approaches a Snake-Bird and crosses his 

 danger-line, the bird slides off its perch, falls straight down, 

 and sinks out of sight. It goes down head erect, and "all 

 standing," as if weighted with a bag of shot. This is the 

 queerest of all bird ways in diving. If you halt, and watch 

 sharply for the bird to reappear at the surface, for three or 

 four minutes you will see nothing. 



At the end of a long wait you will notice a sharp-pointed 

 stick, half as long as an adult lead-pencil, sticking up out of 

 the water. It looks so queer you watch it sharply. Presently 

 you see the point of it turn a few degrees; and then you dis- 

 cover a beady black eye watching you. It is one of the neat- 

 est hiding-tricks practised by any water-bird I know. 



The Snake-Bird has the power to submerge its body at 

 any depth it chooses, and remain for any reasonable length 

 of time. It is a very expert diver, and the manner in which 



