THE BLACK-BELLIED DARTER.

Tur Black-bellied Darter is sometimes

called the Snake Bird. It is found in the ~

warm parts of America, on the banks
of retired and shady streams. No bird
can display a more sinister front than
this Darter. Its small head, and long,
dark and curved neck, present entirely
the appearance of a snake, whether seen
through the foliage of a tree, or rising
from the sluggish stream in which it often
swims, with the body wholly in the water ;
and on being startled even the neck is
drawn down, and the bird sweeps away
beneath the flood in perfect silence. The
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