246 
SNAKE-BIRD. 
the river St. John, in East Florida. We saw some others in the 
vicinity, but owing to their extreme vigilance and shyness we could 
not procure them. 
From the description of the White-bellied Darter of Latham 
and others, which is unquestionably this species, one would be in- 
clined to conjecture that the bird figured in our plate, as the fe- 
male, is the young male. But this point it is not in my power to 
ascertain. The specimens in Peale’s Museum, from which Wilson 
took his figures, are labelled male and female. All the Darters 
which I saw, while in Florida, were males. 
The Snake-bird is an inhabitant of the Carolinas, Georgia, 
the Floridas and Louisiana; and is common in Cayenne and Bra- 
sil. It seems to have derived its name from the singular form of 
its head and neck, which, at a distance, might be mistaken for a 
serpent. In those countries where noxious animals abound, we 
may readily conceive that the appearance of this bird, extending 
its slender neck through the foliage of a tree, would tend to startle 
the wary traveller, whose imagination had portrayed objects of dan- 
ger lurking in every thicket. Its habits, too, while in the water, 
have not a little contributed to its name. It generally swims with 
its body immerged, especially when apprehensive of danger, its 
long neck extended above the surface, and vibrating in a peculiar 
manner. The first individual that I saw in Florida was sneaking 
away to avoid me^ along the shore of a reedy marsh, which was 
lined with alligators, and the first impression on my mind was that 
I beheld a snake ; but the recollection of the habits of the bird 
soon undeceived me. On approaching it, it gradually sank ; and 
my next view of it was at many fathoms distance, its head merely 
out of the water. To pursue these birds at such times is useless, 
as they cannot be induced to rise, or even expose their bodies. 
Wherever the lin^bs of a tree project over, and dip into the 
water, there the Darters are sure to be found, these situations be- 
ing convenient resting places for the purpose of sunning and preen- 
