“It was not until my bird was fully fledged that I found it willing or anxious to go to the water, and then, whenever it saw me go toward the pond, it accompanied me as far as the gate of the garden, seeming to say “Pray let me go.” On my opening this gate, it at once followed me waddling along like a duck, and no sooner was it in sight of its favourite element than it immediately let itself in, not with a plunge or a dive, but by dropping from a plank into the stream, where for a while it would swim like a duck, then, dipping its long neck, it would dive for the purpose of procuring fish. The water was clear enough to enable me to see all its movements, and after many various windings it would emerge at the distance of forty or fifty yards. This bird sleeps in the open air during warm nights, perched on the highest bar of the fence, with its head under its wings, placed there from above its back, and in rainy weather it often sits in the same position for nearly the whole day. It appears to be very susceptible of cold, retreating to the kitchen and near the fire, battling with the dogs or the cooks for the most comfortable place on the hearth. Whenever the sun shines, it spreads its wings and tail, rustles its feathers, and seems delighted with our warmest sunny days. When walking and occasionally hopping, it does not support itself by the tail, as Cormorants sometimes do. When fishes are presented to it, it seizes and swallows them greedily; but when these cannot be procured, we are forced to feed it on meat, when it opens its mouth, and receives the food placed in it. Occasionally it has spent several days without any food; but in those cases the bird became very troublesome, harassing all around by its incessant croakings, and giving blows to the servants, as if to remind them of their neglect.
“Once it made its escape, and flew off about a quarter of a mile into the pond. Some boys happening to be there in a canoe, the bird approached them with open mouth, for it was hungry and wanted food. They seeing such a strange creature pursuing them with a head somewhat like that of a snake, took alarm and paddled for the shore; but my bird followed in their wake, and landed as soon as they did. They now fled to the house, where the Anhinga also arrived, and was recognised by some members of the family, who sent it back to me; and I, to prevent its farther escape or loss, clipped one of its wings.”
I saw the bird above mentioned at my friend’s house at Charleston in the winter of 1836, when on my way to the Gulf of Mexico, and had many opportunities of watching its habits. It was killed by a beautiful retriever presented to me by the Earl of Derby, and its death occasioned sorrow both to my friend and myself, as he had given it to me for the purpose of being sent to that nobleman.
Ever since I have been acquainted with the Anhinga, I have thought that in form and habits it is intimately connected with the Cormorants, and was induced to compare their manners. In some respects I found them similar, in others different; but when I discovered that all these birds possess a remarkable peculiarity in the structure of their feathers, I thought that their generic affinity could not be denied. The Anhinga has its body and neck covered with what I would call fibrous feathers, having a very slender shaft; while its quills and tail-feathers are compact, that is, perfect in structure, strong, and elastic. Now the shafts of all these latter feathers are tubular from their bases to their very extremities, which, in so far as I know, is not the case in any other bird, excepting the Cormorants. They are all very elastic, like those in the tails of our largest Woodpeckers, the shafts of which, however, are filled with a spongy pith, as in all other land-birds, and in all the aquatic species which I have examined, including Divers and Grebes, as well as Plungers, such as Gannets, Kings-fishers, and Fishing Hawks. The quills and tail-feathers of the Cormorants and Anhinga, in short, have the barrel as in other birds, but the shaft hollow, even to the tip, its walls being transparent, and of the same nature as the barrel.
Wilson, who, it is acknowledged, made his figures from stuffed specimens in the Philadelphia Museum, had no positive proof that the bird which he took for a female was one, for he had not seen the Anhinga alive or recently killed. Even his continuator, Mr Ord, procured only males during his visit to the Floridas. But the female which I have represented was proved to be of that sex by dissection, and was examined by myself nineteen years ago near Bayou Sara. Since that time I have had numerous opportunities of satisfying myself as to this point, by examining birds in various stages.
The substances which I have found in many individuals of this species were fishes of various kinds, aquatic insects, crays, leeches, shrimps, tadpoles, eggs of frogs, water-lizards, young alligators, water-snakes, and small terrapins. I never observed any sand or gravel in the stomach. On some occasions I found it distended to the utmost, and, as I have already stated, the bird has great powers of digestion. Its excrements are voided in a liquid state, and squirted to a considerable distance, as in Cormorants, Hawks, and all birds of prey.
The flesh of the Anhinga, after the bird is grown, is dark, firm, oily, and unfit for food, with the exception of the smaller pectoral muscles of the female, which are white and delicate. The crimpings of the two middle tail-feathers become more deeply marked during the breeding season, especially in the male. When young, the female shews them only in a slight degree, and never has them so decided as the male.
Plotus Anhinga, Linn. Syst. Nat., vol. i. p. 218.—Lath. Ind. Ornith., vol. ii. p. 895.—Ch. Bonaparte, Synopsis of Birds of the United States, p. 411.
Plotus melanogaster, Lath. Ind. Ornith. vol. ii. p. 895.
Black-bellied Darter, Plotus melanogaster, Wils. Amer. Ornith., vol. ix. p. 75. pl. 74, fig. 1. adult, and p. 82. pl. 74, fig. 2. young.