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AMERICAN ANHINGA OR SNAKE-BIRD. 
Plotus Anhinga, Linn. 
‘ PLATE CCCOXX. — Male akd Female. 
The Snake-bird is a constant resident in the Floridas, and the lower parts 
of Louisiana, Alabama, and Georgia. Few remain during winter in South 
Carolina, or in any district to the eastward of that State ; but some proceed 
as far as North Carolina in spring, and breed along the coast. I have 
found it in Texas in the month of May, on the waters of Buffalo Bayou, and 
the St. Jacinto river, where it breeds, and where, as I was told, it spends 
the winter, It rarely ascends the Mississippi beyond the neighbourhood of 
Natchez, from which most of the individuals return to the mouths of that 
great stream, and the numerous lakes, ponds, and bayous in its vicinity, 
where I have observed the species at all seasons, as well as in the Floridas. 
Being a bird which, by its habits, rarely fails to attract the notice of the 
most indifferent observer, it has received various names. The Creoles of 
Louisiana, about New Orleans, and as far up the Mississippi as Pointe Coupe, 
call it “ Bee a Lancette,” on account of the form of its bill ; whilst at the 
mouths of the river it bears the name of “ Water Crow.” In the southern 
parts of Florida, it is called the “ Grecian Lady,” and in South Carolina it 
is best known by the name of “ Cormorant.” Yet in all these parts, it 
bears also the name of “ Snake-bird ;” but it is nowhere with us called the 
“ Black-bellied Darter,” which, by the way, could only be with strict 
propriety applied to the adult male. 
Those which, on the one hand, ascend the Mississippi, and, on the other, 
visit the Carolinas, arrive at their several places of resort early in April, 
in some seasons even in March, and there remain until the beginning of 
November. Although this bird is occasionally seen in the immediate 
vicinity of the sea, and at times breeds not far from it, I never met with an 
individual fishing in salt water. It gives a decided preference to rivers, 
lakes, bayous, or lagoons in the interior, always however in the lowest and 
most level parts of the country. The more retired and secluded the spot, 
the more willingly does the Snake-bird remain about it. Sometimes indeed 
I have suddenly come on some in such small ponds, which I discovered by 
mere accident, and in parts of woods so very secluded, that I was taken by 
