AFRICA. 183 
having like It the wings larger and fitter for 
the purpofe, than thofe of the grebe, which 
are fliort and weak. The tail of the anhingas 
is extremely long : a charadleriftic very fingu- 
lar and remarkable in a water fowl, and which 
ought, it would feem, to render them totally 
diftinit from diving birds, which, in general, 
have little or no tail. 
By this trait, ,they approach ftill nearer to 
the cormorants*; for though the tails of the 
latter are fliorter, the tails of both have a great 
refemblance to each other, fince their quills are 
equally ftrong, elaRic, and proper to form a 
rudder when thefe fowls fwim through the 
water in purfuit of fifh, which conflitute their 
principal nourifhment. When the anhinga 
feizes a fifh, he fwallows it intire if it be fmall 
enough, and if too large he carries it off to a 
rock, or the ftump of a tree, and, fixing 
it under one of his feet, tears it to pieces with 
his bill. 
Though water is the favourite element of 
this bird, it builds its neft and rears its young 
* At the Cape there are four kinds of cormorant^, 
one of which has a tail almoft as long as that of the an- 
hinga, 
N 4 on 
