374 
SNAKE-BIRD. 
of the mouth dusky; irides dark crimson; the orbit of the eye, 
next to the plumage of the head, is of a greenish blue colour, 
this passes round, in the form of a zigzag band, across the front 
— the next colour is black, which entirely surrounds the eye; 
eyelids of a bright azure, running into violet next to the eye 
ball; lores greenish blue; naked skin in front black; jugular pouch 
jet black; hind-head subcrested; along the sides of the neck 
there runs a line of loose unwebbed feathers, of a dingy ash 
colour, resembling the plumage of callow young, here and there 
on the upper part of the neck one perceives a feather of the 
same; on the forehead there is a small knob or protuberance; 
the neck, near its centre, takes a singular bend, in order to 
enable the bird to dart forward its bill, with velocity, when it 
takes its prey; legs and feet of a yellowish clay colour, the toes, 
and the hind part of the legs, with a dash of dusky; claws greatly 
falcated; when the wings are closed, they extend to the centre 
of the tail. 
Length from the tip of the bill to the end of the tail two feet 
ten inches,* breadth three feet ten inches; bill to the angle of 
the mouth full four inches; tail ten inches and a half, composed 
of twelve broad and stiff feathers. Weight three pounds and a 
half. 
The serratures of the bill are extremely sharp, so much so, 
that when one applies tow, or such like substance, to the bird’.s 
mouth, it is with difficulty disengaged. 
The lower mandible and throat, as in the Divers, are capable 
of great expansion, to facilitate the swallowing of fish, which 
constitute the food of this species. The position of these birds, 
Avhen standing, is like that of the Gannets. 
The above description was taken from a fine adult male spe- 
* The admeasurement of the specimen, described in the first edition of 
this work, was made by Wilson himself, from the stuffed bird in Peale’s 
Museum. It differs considerably from that described above; but as our 
specimen was a very fine one, there is room to conjecture that there was 
some error in the admeasurement of the former, ours being described im- 
mediately after death. 
