Edinburg and other places.
Data.--St. Kilda Island, Scotland, June 18, 1896. Single egg laid on a
large mass of seaweed on a sea cliff. Collector, H. McDonald.

[Illustration: Ganet Anhinga.]
[Illustration: Chalky bluish white.]
[Illustration: left hand margin.]

Page 77

DARTERS. Family ANHINGIDAE

118. WATER TURKEY. _Anhinga anhinga._

Range.--Tropical America, north to the South Atlantic States and up the
Mississippi Valley to Illinois.

Anhingas or Snake Birds are curiously formed creatures with a Heron-like
head and neck, and the body of a Cormorant. They live in colonies in
inaccessible swamps. Owing to their thin and light bodies, they are
remarkable swimmers, and pursue and catch fish under water with ease.
When alarmed they have a habit of sinking their body below water,
leaving only their head and neck visible, thereby having the appearance
of a water snake. They also fly well and dive from their perch into the
water with the greatest celerity.

They nest in colonies in the swamps, placing their nests of sticks,
leaves and moss in the bushes over the water. They breed in April,
laying from three to five bluish eggs, covered with a chalky deposit.
Size 2.25 x 1.35. Data.--Gainesville, Florida, May 18, 1894. Nest in the
top of a button-wood tree, made of leaves and branches, overhanging the
water. Collector, George Graham.

[Illustration 079: Chalky bluish white.]
[Illustration: PELICAN POND. Washington Zoological Park.]
[Illustration: right hand margin.]

Page 78

CORMORANTS. Family PHALACROCORACIDAE

Cormorants have a more bulky body than do the Anhingas; their tail is
shorter and the bill strongly hooked at the tip. Cormorants are found in
nearly all quarters of the globe. They are very gregarious and most
species are maritime. They feed upon fish which they catch by pursuing
under water. Most of the Cormorants have green eyes.

[Illustration: 080 left hand margin.]

Page 79

119. CORMORANT. _Phalacrocorax carbo._

Range.--The Atlantic coast breeding from Maine to Greenland.

The common Cormorant or Shag is one of the largest of the race, having a
length of 36 inches.

In breeding plumage, the black head and neck are so thickly covered with
the slender white plumes as to almost wholly obscure the black. There is
also a large white patch on the flanks. They nest in colonies on the
rocky shores of Newfoundland and Labrador, placing their nests of sticks
and seaweed in rows along the hi