1196 
PLOTUS MELANOGASTER. 
met with it in numbers on the Kunltrowlee lake in Oodeypore. At the Sambhur Lake it has once been shot 
by Mr. Adam. From the plain-country of Bengal it extends into the valley of Nepal, where Dr. Scully found 
it faiily common on a lake near Bichiakoh in December. In Furreedpore Mr. Cripps says it is common. 
1 uithei east, in Upper Pegu, Mr. Oates testifies to the same fact, and at the Myitkyo swamp in Burmah he 
found it so numerous that he observed two hundred nests in one locality ; in Tenasserim it is plentiful both 
inland and near the coasts. In the Malay peninsula it doubtless occurs, though I find no record as yet of its 
having been procured there. In the archipelago it has been found in Sumatra, Java, Borneo, and Celebes^ 
trom which islands it is recorded by Salvadori in his f Uccelli di Borneo. 5 Recently also I observe that Herr 
Meyer procured it on the river Tumumpat near Menado. Whether it extends to the island of New Guinea 
or not I am unable to say ; but on the south coast the Australian species is found, and may perhaps replace 
our bird entirely in Papua. From Borneo it finds its way by the Sooloo archipelago to the Philippine group, 
where it has been obtained in the islands of Mindanao and Negros. 
Habits . — This handsome Diver entirely resembles its near relatives the Cormorants in its economy, being 
entirely a fish-feeder. It is, however, a more expert diver, its slender form and long, snake-like neck being entirely 
adapted for rapid entry into and progress under the water. From its position on a stake or log near the surface 
it disappears like an arrow beneath the water ; and when swimming is equally expert, for, if alarmed, it sinks its 
body, and nothing is seen but its long neck, and sometimes only the head, which it darts down out of sight as 
quick as thought, leaving scarcely a ripple on the surface. I know of no quicker diver, not even the Grebe, 
than this bird. In Ceylon, as also, from published accounts, in India, the Darter frequents wild unfrequented 
tanks and jheels, preferring smaller and partly overgrown sheets of water to the larger lakes, like Ivanthelai 
and Minery ; but nevertheless in these localities a good many may be seen during the non-breeding time. It 
is very shy and wary, usually perching on submerged logs and trees well out of shot ; here it sits with extended 
wings and outstretched neck, twisting its snake-like head from side to side to assist its visual powers on the 
approach of danger, and rarely allows the sportsman to approach within range. It is very swift on the wing, 
6ying with rapid regular strokes, and has a habit in the breeding-season of mounting to a vast height in the 
air until it looks like a mere speck against the blue sky. It sometimes soars, making one or two circlings 
with outstretched pinions, and then continuing its course with slow beats. 
The neck and gape are capable of great expansion, and it is surprising what large morsels one of these 
Darters can dispose of. The angular bend in this bird 5 s neck, formed by an alteration in the direction of two 
or three of the cervical vertebrae, which are set at right angles to those above and below, is the normal position; 
tor the neck is always held thus both sitting and flying, and is never stretched out, except when diving, or 
when, in confinement, the bird is eager to receive its food. The use of this bend is to impart a powerful 
leverage in “chucking 55 the head when jerking its food down the throat, for the bend or short arm gives 
power to the longer, at the end of which is the bird 5 s head. This is apparent if the lower portion of the neck 
be grasped in the hand while the bird is chucking its head forward. A pair which I kept in confinement when 
quite young stretched up their necks to be fed with a tremulous motion of their heads and a combined expan- 
sive movement of their pouches, their mouths being held wide open ; at the same time they gave vent to a 
tremulous cackling note mingled with a chick, chick sound ; now and then, when walking about, they uttered 
a whistle like qi ec-ak. After a while the youngest died, and the other became very tame, wandering about 
the outhouses, and often taking up its quarters in the kitchen, where it knew there was food to be had. It 
was most voracious, attempting to swallow every thing that came in its way, and one day succeeded in boltiim 
a good-sized beef-rib, which would have killed it had I not observed the occurrence and made it disgorge the 
bone by seizing the lower part of the neck. Before it had acquired its feathers it used to perch upon the edge 
of its box and extend its pinions, after the manner of its species ; the older it became the more it practised this 
habit, more particularly in the mornings, and at the same time (after it had acquired its plumage) erected the 
whole of the back-feathers at right angles to its body, raising the wing-covert feathers to an angle of about 
/0 ; the lesser series, however, were held almost as erect as the back-feathers. 
The note of the adult is a harsh disyllabic crake, very like the sound emitted by the young. 
Nidification. I found this bird breeding at Uduwila tank in March 1872 ; and in April of the following 
