Plate CCCXVI. Male and Female.
Upper mandible dusky, lower bright yellow; gular sac orange; tarsus
and toes dusky olive, the hind parts and webs yellow; general colour
of head, neck, and body, glossy blackish-green, of the scapulars,
wings, and tail, glossy bluish-black; long loose feathers on the neck
purplish-white; lower part of neck behind marked with very numerous
minute oblong spots of white, forming two broad bands, extending
backwards, and gradually becoming more elongated, there being one
along the centre of each feather, including the scapulars; smaller
wing-coverts similarly marked with broader white spots disposed in
regular rows; first row of small coverts and secondary coverts white,
excepting a portion of the inner web; five elongated secondaries
marked with a narrow white band; occupying the inner half of the outer
web; tail-feathers tipped with a band of brownish-red fading into
white. Female with only a few inconspicuous elongated feathers on the
neck; upper part of head and hind neck dull greenish-brown, lighter on
the lower part; fore part of neck pale reddish-brown, tinged with
grey, lighter on the throat, that colour extending over part of the
breast, and terminating abruptly in a transverse band of deep
reddish-chestnut; the other parts as in the male, only the fore part
of the back is tinged with brown, and its spots are less distinct.
_Male_, 35-3/4, 44. _Female_, 34, 43.
Constant resident from Florida to Georgia; in summer as far east as
North Carolina, and up the Mississippi to Natchez. Common.
Plotus Anhinga, Bonap. Syn. p. 411.
Black-bellied Darter, Plotus melanogaster, Wils. Amer. Orn. v.
ix. p. 75.
Black-bellied Darter, Nutt. Man. v. ii. p. 507.
Anhinga or Snake-Bird, Plotus Anhinga, Aud. Orn. Biog. v. iv.
p. 136.
GENUS III. TACHYPETES, Vieill. FRIGATE BIRD.
Bill longer than the head, strong, broader than high, unless towards
the curved extremity; upper mandible with its dorsal line slightly
concave, at the tip decurved, its ridge broad and nearly flat at the
base, narrowed and more convex towards the end, the sides separated
from the ridge by a narrow groove, convex, the edges sharp, direct,
irregularly jagged, with a prominence at the commencement of the curve
at the elongated, compressed, tapering, decurved point; lower mandible
with the angle extremely long, narrow, the membrane bare and dilatable
into a small pouch, the very short dorsal line decurved, the sides
erect at the base, convex in the rest of their extent, the edges
sharp, much inflected, irregularly jagged, at the tip narrow and
decurved. Nostrils basal, linear, inconspicuous. Head of moderate
size, oblong; neck of moderate length, stout; body rather slender.
Feet very short, stout; tibia very short; tarsus extremely short,
feathered; toes all placed in the same plane, and connected by short
deeply emarginate webs, which run out narrow along the sides,
scutellate above, first small, second shorter than fourth, third much
longer. Claws strong, compressed, curved, acute, that of the third toe
long, with the inner edge pectinate. Plumage compact, glossy; feathers
of the head, neck, and back lanceolate. Wings extremely long, pointed,
the first quill longest; the rest rapidly diminishing; secondaries
very short, the inner long and tapering. Tail very long, deeply
forked, of twelve feathers. Tongue exceedingly small, fleshy,
flattened; œsophagus very wide; proventricular glands forming a
complete belt; stomach very small, roundish, its muscular coat thin,
the inner soft and corrugated; no pyloric lobe; intestine of moderate
length; cœca extremely small; cloaca globular.