254 
PLOTUS MELANOGASTER. 
will occupy the same tree for a series of years. They 
commonly sit on a stump, which rises out of the water, 
in the mornings of the spring, and spread their wings 
to the sun, from which circumstance they have obtained 
the appellation of sun birds. They are difficult to be 
shot when swimming, in consequence of only their 
heads being above the water.” 
Never having seen a specimen of the black-bellied 
darter of Senegal and Java, I cannot give an opinion 
touching its identity with ours. 
