DARTERS 



(118) Anhinga anhinga 



(Linn.) (Lat., snaky). 



ANHINGA; WATER-TURKEY; 

 SNAKE-BIRD. Form slender, es- 

 pecially the bill, head and neck. 

 Plumage of o^ shown by the perching 

 bird in the opposite picture. 9 

 shown by the di\ing bird. Tail of 

 12 feathers, very broad at the tips, 

 the outer webs of the middle ones 

 being curiously crimped. Brownish- 

 white, filamentous plumes on the 

 neck of the male during breeding sea- 

 son. L., 36.00; Ex., 48.00; VV., 13.50; 

 T., 10.50; B., 3.25. Nest — Of sticks 

 over water in bushes or trees; four 

 bluish eggs, covered with chalky 

 deposit, 2.25 X 1.35. 



Range — Tropical America; breeds 

 north to Tex., southern III. , and N. Car. 



away with only the slender head and part of the neck visible 

 (hence the name "Snake-bird"), or else rise and circle about 

 high in the air. Rude platforms of sticks are built in bushes 

 over the water to hold their bluish-white eggs, which are 

 covered with a chalk-like deposit. 



The three or four eggs are laid at intervals of several 

 days, so that it is quite usual to find nests containing an 

 egg, a newly hatched chick and another of good size. The 

 young feed, as do probably all the members of this Order, 

 by thrusting their heads into the parent's throat or pouch and 

 taking the food contained there — usually small fish. 



F.\MiLY PHALACROCORACID.E. Cormorants 



A family of water-birds having rather long, strongly 

 hooked bills, full-webbed feet placed far back on the body 

 so that the sitting posture of the birds is nearly erect, and 

 very stiff tails that are of use for steering when swimming 

 under water and as a prop to aid them in sitting. The 

 plumage is close fitting, usually a glossy greenish or bltiish- 



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