ANATOMY OF BIRDS
GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION
MIGRATIONS OF BIRDS
CLASSIFICATION OF BIRDS
LIZARD-TAILED BIRD
AMERICAN TOOTHED-BIRDS
THE OSTRICHES
THE RHEAS
EMEUS AND CASSOWARIES
THE TINAMOUS
THE KIWIS
THE PENGUINS
LOONS AND GREBES
ALBATROSSES & PETRELS
STORK-LIKE BIRDS
GOOSE-LIKE BIRDS
FALCON-LIKE BIRDS
FOWL-LIKE BIRDS
CRANE-LIKE BIRDS
PLOVER-LIKE BIRDS
CUCKOO-LIKE BIRDS
THE ROLLER-LIKE BIRDS
SPARROW-LIKE BIRDS
Birds and Birding's Guide to:
Watching THE STORK-LIKE BIRDS
THE ANHINGAS, OR DARTERS (Family Anhingidm)
The Anhingas, Darters, or Snake-birds are readily distinguished from the other members of the group and more particularly from their nearest of kin, the Cormorants, by their elongated bodies, excessively long, slender, snake-like necks, very small, narrow heads, and the slender, nearly straight, and very sharp-pointed bills.
The bill is not hooked at the tip although somewhat serrated. The neck has”a bend at the 8th or 9th vertebra, and is provided with a peculiar mechanism which enables the bird, by suddenly straightening the neck, to transfix with its bill the fishes it captures.”
The wings are quite long and pointed, while the rounded tail is composed of twelve stiff, somewhat wedge-shaped feathers, —the broadest end outward, in addition to which the middle pair are transversely ribbed.
The body is nearly uniformly clothed with small, rather soft, contour feathers, and very delicate down feathers.
With the exception of the lateral spaces of the trunk, only a narrow inferior bare space is to be found.
In length these birds range from about twenty-eight to thirty-six inches.
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