SNAKE-BIRD. 
247 
ing themselves ; and, probably, giving them a better opportunity, 
than when swimming, of observing their finny prey. They crawl 
from the water upon the limbs, and fix themselves in an upright 
position, which they maintain in the utmost silence. If there be 
foliage, or the long moss, they secrete themselves in it in such a 
manner that they cannot be perceived, unless one be close to them. 
When approached, they drop into the water with such surprising 
skill, that one is astonished how so large a body can plunge with 
so little noise, the agitation of the water being, apparently, not 
greater than that occasioned by the gliding of an eel. 
Formerly the Darter was considered by voyagers as an ano- 
malous production, a monster partaking of the nature of the snake 
and the duck ; and in some ancient charts which I have seen, it is 
delineated in all the extravagance of fiction. 
From Mr. William Bartram we have received the following 
account of the subject of our history: 
“ Here is in this river,* and in the waters all over Florida, a 
very curious and handsome bird, the people call them Snake-biids, 
I think I have seen paintings of them on the Chinese screens, and 
other Indian pictures ; they seem to be a species of Colymbus, but 
far more beautiful and delicately formed than any other that I 
have ever seen. They delight to sit in little peaceable communi- 
ties, on the dry limbs of trees, hanging over the still waters, with 
their wings and tails expanded, I suppose to cool and air them- 
selves, when at the same time they behold their images in the 
watery mirror. At such times when we approach them they drop 
off the limbs into the water as if dead, and for a minute or two 
are not to be seen ; when on a sudden, at a great distance, their 
long slender head and neck appear, like a snake rising erect out 
of the water ; and no other part of them is to be seen when swim- 
ming, except sometimes the tip end of their tail. In the heat of 
* The river St. Juan, East Florida. 
