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DARTER, OR SNAKE-BIRD. 
the Floridas, and Louisiana, and is common in Cayenne and 
Brazil. It seems to have derived its name from the singular 
form of its head and neck, which at a distance might be mis- 
taken for a serpent. In those countries where noxious ani- 
mals 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 imagina- 
tion had portrayed objects of danger lurking in every thicket. 
Its habits, too, while in the water, have not a little contribu- 
ted to its name. It generally swims with its body immerged, 
especially when apprehensive of danger, its long neck extend- 
ed 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 bodiesj 
Wherever the limbs of a tree project over, and dip into the 
water, there the darters are sure to be found, these situations 
being convenient resting-places for the purpose of sunning 
and preening 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- 
