GENUS 101. PLOTUS. DARTER. 
SPECIES. P. ANHINGA. 
DARTER OR SNAKE-BIRD.* 
[Plate LXXIV.— Fig. 1, Male.^ 
Plotiis anhmgu, Linn. Syst. ed. 12, tom. i, p . 218. — Gmel. Syst. 
I, p. 580, 1. — Ind. Orn. p. 895, 1. Flatus melanogaster, Id. p. 
896, var.B, var. C. — Jinhinga Brasiliensibus Tupinamh. Marc- 
GRAv. Hist. JVat. Bras. p. 218. — UJlnliinga, Briss. vi, p. 476. 
— Salerne, p. 375. — Buff. Ois. viii, p. 448. Jinhinga noir de 
Cayenne, FI. Enl.9Q0 . — IChite-bellied Barter, Lath. Gen. Syn. 
Ill, p. 622, 1. Black-bellied Barter, Id. p. 624, var. A. pi. 106. 
Id. p. 625, var. B . — Colymbus colubrinus. Snake-bird, Bartram, 
p. 132. 295. — Peale’s Museum, JVb, 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 orna- 
mented with small oblong ashy white spots, which pass down 
the shoulders, increasing 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 shortest, 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 mandible brownish 
yellow at the sides, the lower mandible yellow ochre; inside 
■* Named in the plate Black-bellied Darter. 
