S. communis,rrem. Pelee-anus sale, Lin. Morus sula, Booby, or Common Booby. Tail wedge-shaped, body whitish, primary quill feathers tipt with blackish. The body is white beneath, and the tail brownish at the tips. But the colour is incident to considerable variety. Size between that of a duck and a goose, and length two feet five inches. This species, which has its name from its apparent stupidity, alighting sometimes when tired on one's hand, if held out to it, is often mentioned by our na vigators, and is very generally spread over the sea, being found among the Faroe Isles, in North and South Ameri ca, the West Indies, and New Guinea ; and yet its history is very scantily unfolded. The flesh has a fishy and mud dy flavour.
PLoTus, Lin. &c. DARTER.
Bill long, perfectly straight, slender, spindle-shaped, sharp-pointed, edges of the upper mandible dilated at the base, but compressed and inflected in the other portions ; both mandibles finely serrated ; nostrils linear, and hid in a shallow groove ; legs short, thick, and strong, tarsus much shorter than the middle and outer toe; all the toes connected by a web; wings long; tail still longer in pro portion.
P. an/iinga, Lin. &c. P. leucogaster, Vieil.
bellied Darter, or ?nbinga. Head smooth, belly white;
the upper parts, abdomen, and thighs, raven black, The tail is deep black, and spotted with white. Of the size of a duck, measuring two feet ten inches in length. Inhabits the Floridas, Brazil, and other districts of South Ameri ca. Subsists chiefly on fish, which it catches by darting its small head forwards; but, when at rest, it perches on a tree, with its long serpentine neck drawn in between the shoulders. It is scarcely ever seen on the ground. The anhingas associate in small parties, frequently reposing on withered branches that impend over streams, expanding their wings and tail, as if for the purpose of cooling them selves, and looking at their image in the water. If ap proached when this attitude they tumble down into the water, as if dead, and remain submerged for a minute or two, when, at a considerable distance, they thrust up their head and neck, the body still continuing under wa ter. During the heat of the day, they may be seen in great numbers, high in the air, and directly above lakes or rivers. They make their nest of sticks or trees. Their skin is very thick ; and their flesh, though fat, is dark-co loured, and of a disagreeable oily flavour.