6 pee NATURAL HISTORY. 
and this enabies them to fupport themfelves more 
eafily'in the air. 
Gavesgy. PR LOT U S. 
Tae ANHINGA, or DARTER. 
~The peters beak is frsight thar at the pbints and 
toothed, , . 
Its face is er with feathers *. 
Its feet palmated, or all the four toes connecicd.. 
YT is found in South America, and in 
Africa, Like a ferpent, it draws, in its _ 
- very long neck, and then darts out its beak at the 
fith upon which it feeds. Its head is thickly 
covered with fhort, velvet- like feathers. It is 2 
very wild bird, and frequently perches itfelf, not- 
3 withftanding i its webbed feet, on the tops of trees, — 
by river fides, or near . favannahs that are over- ~ 
fiown. (A favannah is a large open meadow.) 
- Darters build their nefts on trees. ‘They are 
moftly fat, but the fleth is oily, and bad tafted. 
The very great length of the neck 1s not all that ’ 
18 remarkable in its appearance ; for it has a large 
* Tris faid, that one fpecies of the Datse a its face 
and chin bare of feathers. 
