250 
PLOTUS ANHINGA. 
young ; here and there, ou the upper part of the neci” 
one perceives a feather of the same; on the forehea® 
there is a small knob or protuberance ; the neck, neaf 
its centre, takes a singular bend, in order to enable tb® 
bird to dart forivard its bill with velocity when it tab'®* 
its prey ; legs and feet of a yellowish clay colour, tb® 
toes, and the hind part of the legs, with a dash * 
dusky; claws greatly falcated; when the wings 
closed they exteud to the centre of the tail. 
Length, from the tip of the bill to the end of the ta'” 
two feet ten inches,* breadth three feet ten inch®®’ 
bill to the angle of the month full four inches ; tail, 
inches and a half, composed of twelve broad and sw 
feathers ; weight three pounds and a half. 
The serratures of the bill are extremely sharp, 
much so that when one applies tow, or such bb® 
substance, to the bird’s mouth, it is with difficib*^ 
disengaged. 
The lower mandible and throat, as in the divers, 
capable of great exp.ansion to facilitate the swallo"*®- 
of fish, which constitute the food of this species, 
position of these birds, when standing, is like tha* 
the gannets. K 
The above description was taken from a fine ai® 
male specimen, which was shot by my feUow-traveb® ' 
Mr T. Peale, on the 1st of March, 1818, in a creek bel®^) 
the Cow Ford, situated on the river St John, in 
Florida. We saw some others in the vicinity, b'jj 
owing to their extreme vigilance and shyness, we co® 
not procure them. ( 
From the description of the white-bellied dartef ^ 
Latham and others, which is unquestionably this spe®’* j 
one would bo inclined to conjecture, that the bird 
as the female is the young male. But this point n 
* ^ The admeasurement of the specimen described in the 
edition of rtie ninth volume, was made by Wilson himself 
stuffed bird in Peale’s museum. It differs considerably frort* j* 
described above j but as our specimen was a very fine one, 
room to conjecture that there was some error in the admeasuri-’*® 
of the former, ours being described immediately after death. 
