THE WHITE BELLIED DARTER. 387 



Description Expert at fishing. 



them a second time, as they never show them- 

 selves more than once, but at a very great dis- 

 tance, and then only for the moment necessary 

 for breathing. In short, so cunning are they 

 that they will often baffle the sportsman by 

 plunging at the distance of a hundred paces 

 above, and rising again to breathe at the distance 

 of more than a thousand below him, and if they 

 have the good fortune to find any reeds, they 

 conceal themselves there, and entirely disappear. 



THE WHITE-BELLIED DARTER. 



THE white-bellied darter is scarcely so large 

 as a mallard, but its neck is so long that it mea- 

 sures not less than two feet ten inches. The bill 

 is three inches long, straight, and pointed. The 

 neck is covered with downy soft feathers, of a 

 reddish grey ; the upper parts of the plumage 

 are dusky black, dashed with white; the under 

 parts pure silvery white. It is a native of Brasil, 

 and is extremely expert at catching fish. 



Mr. Bertram, in his American Travels, sa} r s 

 that these birds have a way of spreading out 

 their tail like an unfurled fau. They delight to 

 sit in little peaceable communities, on the dry 

 limbs of trees, hanging over the still waters, with 

 the wings and tail expanded, and when ap- 

 proached, they drop from the limb into the wa- 

 ter, as if dead, and for a minute or two are not 



VOL. iv. NO. 30. 2 u 



