104 DARTER, OR SNAKE-BIRD. 
specimen, which was shot by my fellow-traveller Mr T. Peale, 
on the 1st of March 1818, in a creek below the Cow Ford, 
situated on the river St John, in East Florida. Wesaw some 
others in the vicinity, but owing to their extreme vigilance 
and shyness, we could not procure them. 
From the description of the white-bellied darter of Latham 
and others, which is unquestionably this species, one would be 
inclined to conjecture that the bird figured as the female is the 
young male, But this point it is not in my power to ascertain. 
All the darters which I saw while in Florida were males. 
The snake-bird is an inhabitant of the Carolinas, Georgia, 
the Floridas, and Louisiana, and is common in Cayenne and 
Brazil. It seems to have derived its name from the singular 
form of its head and neck, which at a distance might be mis- 
taken for a serpent. In those countries where noxious ani- 
mals abound, we may readily conceive that the appearance of 
this bird, extending its slender neck through the foliage of a 
tree, would tend to startle the wary traveller, whose imagina- 
tion had portrayed objects of danger lurking in every thicket. 
Its habits, too, while in the water, have not a little contribu- 
ted to its name. It generally swims with its body immerged, 
especially when apprehensive of danger, its long neck extended 
above the surface, and vibrating in a peculiar manner. The 
first individual that I saw in Florida was sneaking away, to 
avoid me, along the shore of a reedy marsh which was lined 
with alligators, and the first impression on my mind was that 
I beheld a snake, but the recollection of the habits of the bird 
soon undeceived me. On approaching it, it gradually sank, 
and my next view of it was at many fathoms’ distance, its head 
merely out of the water. ‘lo pursue these birds at such times 
is useless, as they cannot be induced to rise, or even expose 
their bodies. 
Wherever the limbs of a tree project over, and dip into the 
water, there the darters are sure to be found, these situations 
being convenient resting-places for the purpose of sunning 
and preening themselves, and probably giving them a better 
ie, 
