Black Bellied Darter by John James Audubon Art Print

An archival premium Quality Art Print of the Black Bellied Darter by John James Audubon for sale by Brandywine General Store. In this print, Audubon shows a pair of these strange looking birds, whose necks resembles snakes, hence their other common name of Snake Birds, setting in a dead tree. The scene looks like it is from the bayou of Louisiana or some other swampy area, besides the two birds in the close up in the tree, there are numerous others scattered around in the swamp. In later editions of his great ornithology book, The Birds of North America, these birds were called the American Anhinga, in the 1st Havell edition of this book, these birds were plate or picture number 316. Plotus Anhinga - Audubon describes these birds thus "The Snake-bird is a constant resident in the Floridas, and the lower parts of Louisiana, Alabama, and Georgia. Few remain during winter in South Carolina, or in any district to the eastward of that State; but some proceed as far as North Carolina in spring, and breed along the coast. I have found it in Texas in the month of May, on the waters of Buffalo Bayou, and the St. Jacinto river, where it breeds, and where, as I was told, it spends the winter. It rarely ascends the Mississippi beyond the neighbourhood of Natchez, from which most of the individuals return to the mouths of that great stream, and the numerous lakes, ponds, and bayous in its vicinity, where I have observed the species at all seasons, as well as in the Floridas. Being a bird which, by its habits, rarely fails to attract the notice of the most indifferent observer, it has received various names. The Creoles of Louisiana, about New Orleans, and as far up the Mississippi as Pointe Coupe, call it "Bec a Lancette," on account of the form of its bill; whilst at the mouths of the river it bears the name of "Water Crow." In the southern parts of Florida, it is called the "Grecian Lady," and in South Carolina it is best known by the name of "Cormorant." Yet in all these parts, it bears also the name of "Snake-bird;" but it is nowhere with us called the Black-bellied Darter," which, by the way, could only be with strict propriety applied to the adult male. Audubon bird print #316