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AMERICAN ANHINGA OR SNAKE-BIRD. 



-f Plotus Anhinga, Linn. 

 PLATE CCCCXX.— Male and Female. 



The Snake-bird is a constant resident in the Floridas, and the lower parts 

 of Louisiana, Alabama, and Georgia. Few remain during winter in South 

 Carolina, or in any district to the eastward of that State; but some proceed 

 as far as North Carolina in spring, and breed along the coast. I have found 

 it in Texas in the month of May, on the waters of Buffalo Bayou, and the 

 St. Jacinto river, where it breeds, and where, as I was told, it spends the 

 winter. It rarely ascends the Mississippi beyond the neighbourhood of 

 Natchez, from which most of the individuals return to the mouths of that 

 great stream, and the numerous lakes, ponds, and bayous in its vicinity, 

 where I have observed the species at all seasons, as well as in the Floridas. 



Being a bird which, by its habits, rarely fails to attract the notice of the 

 most indifferent observer, it has received various names. The Creoles of 

 Louisiana, about New Orleans, and as far up the Mississippi as Pointe Coupe, 

 call it "Bee a Lancette," on account of the form of its bill; whilst at the 

 mouths of the river it bears the name of "Water Crow." In the southern 

 parts of Florida, it is called the "Grecian Lady," and in South Carolina it is 

 best known by the name of "Cormorant." Yet in all these parts, it bears 

 also the name of "Snake-bird;" but it is nowhere with us called the Black- 

 bellied Darter," which, by the way, could only be with strict propriety 

 applied to the adult male. 



Those which, on the one hand, ascend the Mississippi, and, on the other, 

 visit the Carolinas, arrive at their several places of resort early in April, in 

 some seasons even in March, and there remain until the beginning of 

 November. Although this bird is occasionally seen in the immediate 

 vicinity of the sea, and at times breeds not far from it, I never met with an 

 individual fishing in salt water. It gives a decided preference to rivers, 

 lakes, bayous, or lagoons in the interior, always however in the lowest and 

 most level parts of the country. The more retired and secluded the spot, the 

 more willingly does the Snake-bird remain about it. Sometimes indeed I 

 have suddenly come on some in such small ponds, which I discovered by 

 mere accident, and in parts of woods so very secluded, that I was taken by 



