452 AMERICAN ANHINGA. 



sharp claws, and beat their wings about you with much more vigour than 

 you would suppose they could possess. 



The substances which I have found in many individuals of this species 

 were fishes of various kinds, aquatic insects, crays, leeches, shrimps, tadpoles, 

 eggs of frogs, water-lizards, young alligators, water-snakes, and small terra- 

 pins. I never observed any sand or gravel in the stomach. On some occa- 

 sions I found it distended to the utmost, and, as I have already stated, the 

 bird has great powers of digestion. Its excrements are voided in a liquid 

 state, and squirted to a considerable distance, as in Cormorants, Hawks, and 

 all birds of prey. 



The flesh of the Anhinga, after the bird is grown, is dark, firm, oily, and 

 unfit for food, with the exception of the smaller pectoral muscles of the 

 female, which are white and delicate. The crimpings of the two middle 

 tail-feathers become more deeply marked during the breeding season, espe- 

 cially in the male. When young, the female shews them only in a slight 

 degree, and never has them so decided as the male. 



Plotds Anhinga, Bonap. Syn., p. 411. 



Black-bellied Darter, Plotus melanogaster, Wils. Amer. Orn. ; vol. ix. p. 75. 



Black-bellied Darter, Nutt. Man., vol. ii. p. 507. 



Anhinga or Snake-bird, Plotus Anhinga, Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. iv. p. 136. 



Male, 35f, 44. Female, 34, 43. 



Constant resident from Florida to Georgia; in summer as far east as North 

 Carolina, and up the Mississippi to Natchez. Common. 



Adult Male. 



Bill about twice the length of the head, almost straight, being very slight- 

 ly recurved, rather slender, compressed, tapering to a fine point. Upper 

 mandible with the dorsal outline slightly declinate, and almost straight, 

 being however somewhat convex, the ridge convex, gradually narrowed, the 

 sides sloping, the edges sharp, and beyond the middle cut into minute 

 slender-pointed serratures, which are directed backwards; the tips very 

 slender. Lower mandible with the angle very long and narrow, the dorsal 

 line beyond it straight and ascending, the sides sloping slightly outwards, 

 the edges sharp and serrated like those of the upper, the point extremely 

 narrow; the gap line slightly ascending towards the end. No external 

 nostrils. 



Head very small, oblong. Neck very long and slender. Body elongated 

 and slender. Feet very short and stout. Tibia feathered to the joint. 

 Tarsus verj T short, roundish, reticulated all over, the scales on the hind part 

 extremely small. Toes all connected by webs; the first of moderate length, 

 the second much longer, the fourth longest and slightly margined externally; 



