Birds and Birding's Guide to:

Watching THE STORK-LIKE BIRDS

THE ANHINGAS, OR DARTERS (Family Anhingidm)

Darter Species

Although only four species of Darters are known, they enjoy a wide distribution in the tropics or warmer regions of both hemispheres, one species, the Snake-bird, or Water Turkey (A anhinga), being found over the whole of tropical and subtropical America, ranging north to South Carolina, southern Illinois, and western Mexico. It is one of the largest species, being from thirty-two to thirty-six inches in length. The male has the upper parts glossy greenish black, the wing-coverts spotted with silver-gray; the lower parts are deep black.

The female and young are more grayish, while the male is provided with a sort of mane of elongated hair-like feathers. The African Darter (A. levaillantii) is found in North Syria, northern Africa, and Madagascar. It is dark brown or reddish brown above, with a white band extending from the eye for about five inches down each side of the neck.

The Indian or Black-bellied Darter (A. melanogaster) is very widely distributed, ranging from Mesopotamia to India, Ceylon, and the Indo-Chinese countries, and through the Malay-Peninsula to Borneo and the Philippines; it is quite similar to the last. The Southern Darter {A. nova-hollandia), found in Australia, New Guinea, and New Zealand, is glossy black above and has the white stripes on the sides of the neck much as in the Indian Darter.

I select the following account of the habits from Dr. Brewer's history of the American species, the habits of the others being similar.”It lives principally upon fish, which it seizes by rapidly darting upon them with its sharply pointed and slightly toothed beak. In this movement its neck, which is very long, is thrust forward with the force of a spring, aided by the muscles, that are large and well developed in the lower and anterior portion of the neck. When fishing, the Anhinga stands with only its head and neck above the water; when it makes a plunge it remains a long while beneath the surface; and when it rises again, the long and undulating neck has somewhat the appearance of a serpent.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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