698 
P L O 
head out of the water, into which it plunges entirely on 
the lead fufpicion of danger : for it is very wild, and can 
never be furprifed on land. It keeps conftantly on the 
water, or perched on the tailed trees, by the fides of rivers 
and in overflowed favannas. It builds its ned on thefe 
trees, and repairs among them to pafs the night. Yet it 
is entirely palmated, its four toes being connected by a 
Angle piece of membrane, and the nail of the middle one 
ferrated within. Thefe coincidences of drudture and habit 
feem to indicate an affinity between the darter and the cor¬ 
morant ; but its fmall cylindrical head, and its bill drawn 
out to a point, without any hook, didinguifh it. The 
fldn of the darter is very thick; the flefh commonly 
fat, but with a difagreeable oily tade : Marcgrave found 
it to be no better than that of the gull, which is furely 
very bad. It inhabits mod parts of South America; and 
is reprefented on the annexed Plate. 
2. Plotus melanogader, the black-bellied darter: head 
fmooth; belly black. Size of the common duck. The 
bill is on the upper part of a pale blue, beneath reddiffi. 
Eyes very piercing. The head, neck, and upper part of 
the bread, are of a light brown; each fide of the head, 
and upper part of the neck, marked with a broad white 
line. Back, fcapulars, and wing-coverts, marked length- 
wife, in equal portions, with dripes of black and white ; 
quill-feathers, belly, thighs, and tail, deep black : tail 
remarkably long and flender: legs and feet of a pale 
green. This fpecies is found in the iflands of Ceylon 
and Java, and fits on the fhrubs that hang over the water ; 
and, in a country where every one’s ideas are filled with 
ferpents, often terrifies the paffengers by (hooting out 
its long flender neck, which, in their fird furprife, they 
take for the darting of fome fatal reptile. 
/ 3 . Spotted. Nearly the fame fize of the above ; bill four 
inches and a half long ; colour dufky yellow, covered at 
the bafe with the (kin of the fame colour, which occupies 
the fpace between the bill and the eye, and furrounds’the 
latter. The head is fmall; and the neck long and flen¬ 
der, both covered with ffiort downy feathers, of a duflcy 
white, or very pale brown, paled before, and darked at 
the lower part behind: the back, fcapulars, and wing- 
coverts, are of the fame colour, but deeper : the lower part 
of the neck, on the fides, and the wing-coverts, marked 
with oval fpots of white, regular, and forming rows on 
the. latter: the fcapulars Areaked longitudinally with 
white, giving the bird an elegant appearance : acrofs the 
lower part of the bread a dull rufous bar; from thence 
all beneath is black, of which colour are alfo the quills 
and tail; the lad is eleven inches in length, a little round¬ 
ed in lhape, and the end of the feathers rudy pale brown; 
the two middle feathers undulated crofs-ways in a Angu¬ 
lar manner. The legs are clumfy, dout, and only four 
inches and a half in length ; the colour dirty yellowifli 
brown. 
y. Black. Said to be three feet in length. Bill yellow- 
ifli; round the eye and throat pale dufky white: wing- 
coverts yellowifli white. The red of the plumage black, 
except the feathers on the beginning of the back, and 
fome of the fcapulars, which are dreaked down the mid¬ 
dle with white, fomewhat like the others ; and the tip of 
the tail dirty rufous; legs brownifh yellow. This inha¬ 
bits Cayenne. 
Rufous. Nearly the fize of the others; and differs 
from them in having the head, neck, and wing-coverts, 
of a dirty rufous colour, and dniky brown, mixed in 
ftreaks: the red of the plumage black. It inhabits 
Africa, particularly Senegal; where it is called by the 
name of kandar. 
3 - Plotus Surinamenfis, the Surinam darter : head erod¬ 
ed ; belly white. This is the fmalled fpecies, being only 
about the fize of a teal : length thirteen inches : the bill 
is.one inch and an eighth long, and of a pale colour: 
irides red. The crown of the head is black, and the fea¬ 
thers behind elongated into a fmall cred: the head itfelf 
ts fmall; and the neck flender, and long, in proportion 
P L O 
to the body: the cheeks are of a bright bay; from the 
corner of each eye is a line of white. The fides and hind 
part of the neck longitudinally marked with lines of 
black and white: wings, back, and tail, dufky brown ; 
the fird pretty large, reaching to within one inch of the 
tail when clofed : the tail is tipped with white, and is 
wedge-fhaped: the upper tail-coverts remarkably long, 
giving the appearance of two tails, one above another: 
bread and belly white : legs fhort and rather dout; of a 
pale dufky colour; toes barred with black. This bird 
inhabits Surinam ; and is chiefly feen on the fides of rivers 
and creeks, feeding on fmall fifli, as well as infefls, but 
above all on flies, in the catching of which it is fo dexte¬ 
rous, that it never'mifles driking one with the bill (which 
is very fharp) at the fird attempt. It is often domedic-a- 
ted by the inhabitants, is very a£Iive, and the head and 
body are faid to be continually in motion. From its ex¬ 
panding the tail and the wings at the fame time, it has 
been thought to refemble the fun, according to the ideas 
of thofe who have obferved it in this fituation, and has 
thereby gained the name of the fun-bird. 
PLOTZ'KAU, a town of Germany, in the duchy of 
Anhalt-Bernburg: five miles fouth-fouth-wed of Bern- 
burg. 
PLOUAGAT', a town in the nortli-wed of France, 
department of the Cotes-du-Nord. Population 2100. 
Nine miles fouth-ead of Guingamp, and twelve wed of St. 
Brieux. 
PLOUA'RE. See Douarneney, vol. vi. 
PLOUARE'T, a town of France, in the department of 
the North Goads, and chief place of a canton, in the dif- 
trift of Lannion. Population 4.276. 
PLOUAY', a town of France, department of the Mor- 
bihan, on the Scorf, containing, with its parifh, 3700 in¬ 
habitants. Twelve miles north of L’Orient. 
PLOUBALAY', a town of France, department of the 
Cotes-du-Nord. Population 1900. Thirty-two miles ead 
of St. Brieux. 
PLOUDALMEZEAU', a town of France, department 
of Finiderre. Population 1700. Fifteen miles north- 
north-wed of Bred. 
PLOUDI'RY, a town of France, department of Finif- 
terre. Population 1800. Twenty miles north-ead of Bred. 
PLO'VER, f. [ pluvier , Fr. pluvialis, Lat.] A bird. See 
Charadrias. —Of wild birds, Cornwall hath quail, rail, 
partridge, pheafant, and plover. Carew's Sun. of Cornwall. 
The bittern knows his time; or, from the fliore. 
The plovers when to fcatter o’er the heath, 
And fing. Thomfon’s Spring. 
PLOUESCAT', a town in the north-wed of France, 
department of Finiderre, near the fea. Population 2200. 
Twenty miles north-wed of Morlaix. 
PLOUGAS'TEL, a town of France, department of 
Finiderre. Population, with its parifh, 4000. Seven 
miles ead of Bred. 
PLOUGERNEAU', a fmall town of France, department 
of Finiderre, near the fea : eighteen miles north ofBred. 
PLOUGH, or Plow,/, [ploge, plog, plou. Sax. H. 
Took pretends that it is the pad participle of the Saxon 
pleggan, to lean, or lie, upon.] The indrument with 
which the furrows are cut in the ground to receive the 
feed.—-Some ploughs differ in the length and fhape of 
their beams; fome in the fhare, others in the coulter and 
handles. Mortimer. 
The outlaw’d Cyclops’ land we fetcht; a race 
Of proud-lin’d loiterers, that never fow, 
Nor put a plant in earth, nor ufe a plow. Chapman. 
Look how the purple flower, which the plow 
Hath (horn in funder, languifhing, doth die. Peacham. 
In ancient times, the facred plough employ’d 
The kings and awful fathers. Thomfon. 
Tillage ; ■ culture of land. A kind of plane ufed by 
bookbinders. 
Under 
