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this was no caged bird. Those who have kept birds of this class in captivity know how soon the 
tail-feathers in particular get soiled and abraded. The almost entire absence of fat on the inner 
surface of the skin would seem to indicate that the bird had performed a long journey on the wing ; 
although this may be otherwise accounted for on the supposition of its being a female in breeding 
condition. The plumage of this specimen, of which a description is given above, allows of its being 
either an adult female or a young bird of the first year, at Avhich stage the sexes are alike. 
I may here mention that the late Sir J. von Haast, during his exploration of the Southern Alps 
in the summer of 1862, met with a bird in the Ohau Lake, swimming very low in the water, which 
he was unable at the time to identify, and that the above discovei’y convinced him it was a Plotiis. 
The habitat of Plotus novce hollmidm, according to Gould (Handb. B. Austr. ii. p. 496), is 
confined to the colonies of South Australia and New South Wales, where it is thinly but generally 
dispersed in all situations suitable to its habits, such as the upper parts of armlets of the sea, the 
rivers of the interior, extensive water-holes, and deep lagoons. This writer adds : — “ Shy and 
seclusive in disposition, it usually takes up its abode in localities little frequented by man ; seeks its 
prey in the water, dives with the greatest ease to the bottom of the deepest pools, and is as active in 
this element as can well be imagined. It ordinarily swims with a considerable portion of the body 
above the surface of the water, but upon being disturbed immediately sinks beneath it, leaving the 
head and neck only to be seen, and these, from their form and the motion communicated to them 
by the action of swimming, present a close resemblance to those of a snake *. Its food consists of 
fish, aquatic insects, newts, frogs, &c. After feeding it perches on a snag of some fallen tree in the 
water, or on the naked branch of a tree in the forest nigh to its haunts, often on one of the greatest 
height, where it sits motionless for hours together: while thus perched it is much more easily 
approached and shot than on the water, where it is wary in the extreme.” 
The male differs from the female in having the breast and neck black with an arrow-head 
mark of white on the throat, and a broad stripe of the same from the base of the mandibles on 
each side of the upper neck ; also in having rusty red stains on the underside of the throat. 
* There is a special mechanism in the neck of the Darter which gives it a peculiar “ kink ” in the middle. The connection 
between this specialized character and the natural habits of the bird has been well explained by the late Mr. W. A. Forbes as 
follows : — 
“ The Darters feed entirely, so far as I have been able to observe, under water. Swimming with its wings half expanded, 
though locomotion is effected entirely by the feet, the bird pursues his prey (small fishes) with a peculiar ‘ darting ’ or jerky 
action of the head and neck, which may be compared to that of a man poising a spear or harpoon before throwing it. Arrived 
within striking-distance, the Darter suddenly transfixes, in fact bayonets, the fish on the tip of its beak with marvellous dexterity, 
and then immediately comes to the surface, where the fish is shaken off the beak by jerking of the head and neck (repeated till 
successful), thrown upwards, and swallowed, usually head first. A study of the neck in the recently dead bird leaves little doubt 
as to the mechanism by which this peculiar impaling of the prey is effected. The 8th cervical vertebra is articulated with the 
7th in such a way that the two cannot naturally be got to lie in the same line, but form an angle, open forwards, of about 145°, 
when the two bones are stretched as far as is possible in that direction. Behind, its articulation with the 9th cervical is such as 
to permit it to be bent back at an angle a little greater than 90° with that vertebra, beyond which extent, however, no further 
flexion is possible. The 8th vertebra is thus so articulated with the 7th anteriorly and the 9th ])osteriorly as to allow it, when 
the neck is flexed, to be nearly at right angles to the rest of the neck, the two portions of which, though parallel, are then at 
different horizons, something like the two bars of a parallel ruler. When the neck is bent in this Z-shaped form, any opeuing- 
out of the anterior angular bend by the action of the anterior neck-muscles causes the anterior moiety of the neck to suddenly 
shoot out, thus causing a corresponding protrusion of the head and beak. By the flexion of the 6th on the 7th, and of the 9th 
on the 10th cervical vertebraj, the curve of the neck is increased — the articulations of the 8th vertebra still forming the double 
hinge round which motion takes place — and the impaling action correspondingly augmented. This protrusion, though only for 
a short distance, is so violent as to effectually ‘ strike ’ the fish which the bird is pursuing.” (Proc. Z. 8. 1882, pp. 210-212.) 
