DARTER, OR SNAKE BIRD. 251 
not in my power to ascertain. All the darters which 
I saw, while in Florida, were males. 
The snake bird is an inhabitant of the Carolinas, 
Georgia, 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 mistaken for a serpent. In those 
countries where noxious animals 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 imagination had 
pourtrayed objects of danger lurking in every thicket. 
Its habits, too, while in the water, have not a little 
contributed to its name. It generally swims with its 
body immerged, especially when apprehensive of danger, 
its long neck extended 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 bodies. 
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 
