244 
DARTER OR SNAKE-BIRD.^ 
PLOTUS JlNHINGJl. 
[Plate LXXIV.— Fig 1.— Male.] 
Plotus anhingci, Lin. Syst, ed, 12, tom, 1, />. 218. — Gmel. Syst, 1, />. 580, 1. — Ind, Om. p, 
895, 1. Plotus melanogaster. Id. p, 896, var. B^var. C. — Anhmga Brasiliensibus Tup'u 
namh, Marcgrav. Hist, Nat. Bras, p, 218. — UAnhinga, Briss. 6, p. 476. — Saler- 
NE, p. 375. — Buff. Ois. 8, p. 448. Anhinga noir de Cayenne^ PI. enl. 960. — White- 
bellied Darter^ Lath. Gen. Syn. 3, p. 622, 1. Black-bellied Barter^ Id, p, 624, ucr. A., 
pi. 106. Id, p. 625, var. B. — Colymbus colubrinus, Snake-birdy Bartram, p. 132, 295. 
— Peale’s Museum^ No, 3188, Male, 
HEAD, neck, whole body above and below, of a deep shining 
black, with a green gloss, the plumage extremely soft, and agreeable 
to the touch ; the commencement of the back is ornamented with 
small oblong ashy white spots, which pass down the shoulders, in- 
creasing in size according to the size of the feathers, and running 
down the scapulars ; wings and tail of a shining black, the latter 
broadly tipped with dirty white ; the lesser coverts are glossed with 
green, and are spotted with ashy white; the last row of the lesser 
coverts, and the coverts of the secondaries, are chiefly ashy white, 
which forms a large bar across the wing ; the outer web of the large 
scapulars is crimped; tail rounded, the two under feathers the short- 
est, the two upper feathers, for the greater part of their length, 
beautifully crimped on their outer webs, the two next feathers in a 
slight degree so ; bill dusky at the base and above, the upper man- 
dible brownish yellow at the sides, the lower mandible yellow 
ochre ; inside of the mouth dusky ; irides dark crimson ; the orbit 
of the eye, next to the plumage of the head, is of a greenish blue 
^ Named in the plate Black-bellied Darter. 
