646 BLACK-BELLIED DARTER. 
upper part of the back, the white, is in very small, oval spots, z:agth- 
ening as they approach the scapulars and tertials; on the latter they 
extend the whole length of,the feathers, running down the centre; 
these are black shafted; the wings are long and pointed ;. lesser cov- 
erts marked, on every feather, with an oval, or spade-shaped spot of 
white ; greater coverts nearly all of a limy white; the tail is long, 
rounding, and exceedingly stiff, consisting of twelve broad feathers, 
the exterior vanes of the four middle ones curiously crimped, the whole 
black, and broadly tipped with dirty, brownish white; the thighs are 
black; legs, scarcely an inch and a.half long; feet, webbed, all the 
four toes united by the membrane, which is of uncommon breadth, and 
must give the bird great velocity when diving or swimming; the ex- 
terior toe, which is the longest, is three inches long; claws, horn 
color, strong, and crooked; inner side of the middle one, pectinated ; 
legs, and feet, yellow. The whole plumage is of extraordinary stiff- 
ness and elasticity; that of the’neck and breast, thick, soft, and shi- 
ning. The position of these birds, when standing, is like that of the 
Gannets. / 2 
Of this extraordinary species we can give little more than accurate 
descriptions, and tolerably good portraits, which were taken from two 
fine specimens, admirably set up and preserved in the Museum of Mr. 
Peale. The Snake-Bird is an inhabitant of the Carolinas, Georgia, 
and the Floridas ; and is common in Brazil, Cayenne, Senegal, Ceylon, 
and Java. lt seems to have derived its name from ‘the singular form 
of its head and neck, which, at a distance, very much resemble some 
species of serpents. In those countries where noxious animals 
abound, we may readily conceive that the appearance of this bird, 
extending its Jong neck through the foliage of a tree, would tend to 
startle the wary traveller, whose imagination had portrayed objects 
of danger lurking in every thicket. It is said to build its nest on a 
tree ; but of its habits during the season of incubation, the number 
and color of its eggs, or the rearing of its young, we are ignorant. 
Formerly the Darter was considered by voyagers as an anomalous 
production; a monster, partaking of the nature of the Snake and 
the Duck; and in some ancient charts, which we have seen, it is de- 
lineated in all the extravagance of fiction. : 
My excellent friend, Mr. William Bartram, gives the following ac- 
count of the subject of our history : — 
“ Here is, in this river,* and in the waters all over Florida, a very 
curious and handsome bird,—the people call them Snake-Birds; I 
think I have seen paintings of them on the Chinese screens and other 
Indian pictures; they seem to be a species of Colymbus, but far more 
beautiful and delicately formed than any other that I have ever seen. 
They delight to sit in little peaceable communities, on the dry limbs 
of trees, hanging over the still waters, with their wings and tails ex- 
panded, I suppose to cool and air themselves, when at the same time 
they behold their images in the watery mirror. At such times, when 
we approach them, they drop off the limbs into the water, as if dead, 
and for a minute or two are not to be seen; when on a sudden, at a 
‘great distance, their long, slender head and neck appear, like a snake 
* The River St. Juan, East Florida. 
