File:Reptiles and birds - a popular account of their various orders, with a description of the habits and economy of the most interesting (1883) (14749191761).jpg

Identifier: reptilesbirds00figu (find matches)
Title: Reptiles and birds : a popular account of their various orders, with a description of the habits and economy of the most interesting
Year: 1883 (1880s)
Authors: Figuier, Louis, 1819-1894 Gillmore, Parker
Subjects: Reptiles Birds
Publisher: London : Cassell & Co.
Contributing Library: American Museum of Natural History Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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Fig 96.—Tropic Bird. of their wings forces them to choose an elevated perch, such as thetop of a tree or the summit of a rock. When worn-out by fatigue, ifthey settle on the water, they are forced to wait until they are liftedon the crest of a wave before they can again take flight. Their modeof flying is peculiar, for they communicate to their wings a kind ofquivering motion. These birds seek remote and solitary islands for the purpose ofbreeding. They build their nests in trees, or in the clefts of rocks,but always in some position difficult of access. They lay two orthree eggs. The young ones, when just hatched, owing to theirdazzling-coloured down, bear a considerable resemblance to powder-puffs. THE DARTER, 263 The Darters (Plotus). The Darter has a straight and pointed bill, with indentations atthe point, turned in a backward direction. Its head is slender andcylindrical, and forms the termination of a shm and excessively long
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-Darter. neck, which gives it much the resemblance of a serpent grafted ona bird. In all its movements this neck is the counterpart of thereptile, and imitates its undulations; therefore, in the United Statesit, has received the name of the Serpent Bird. They are untiringswimmers and excellent divers. When any danger threatens them,they dive under water, and do not come to the surface until they havefound some tufts of reeds in which to hide, even should the distancebe as much as 1,000 feet from the spot where they disappeared. 264 REPTILES AND BIRDS. These birds are of a ^vild and suspicious nature, confining themselvesto sohtary haunts. They perch upon trees which grow by the sidesof a pool or river, in order to dart upon any unfortunate fish whichcomes within their reach, which they seize with extraordinary address,swallowing it whole if not too large ; but if sufh sliould be the case,they carry it to a rock, where they dismember il with their beak andclaws. The Darters build their

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