Black-bellied Darter (Anhinga anhinga), Volume 4, Plate 316

Originally drawn in 1822, redrawn in 1836. The plate shows an adult on top, and a young of the same species below. Havell added a water scene as background, possibly from a sketch also provided by Audubon.

The Anhinga’s feathers not waterproof, which is why they sit on trees to allow them to dry. Audubon’s stylized drawing catches the peculiarity of the bird’s anatomy (the Anhinga’s bill is twice as long as its head). The bare trunk on which the younger bird sits enables him to highlight the bird’s pliable, webbed feet, matching the color of the bird’s bill.

From John James Audubon’s Ornithological Biography

I may here at once tell you that all the roosting places of the Anhinga which I have seen were over the water, either on the shore or in the midst of some stagnant pool; and this situation they seem to select because there they can enjoy the first gladdening rays of the morning sun, or bask in the blaze of its noontide splendour, and also observe with greater ease the approach of their enemies, as they betake themselves to it after feeding, and remain there until hunger urges them to fly off. There, trusting to the extraordinary keenness of their beautiful bright eyes in spying the marauding sons of the forest, or the not less dangerous enthusiast, who, probably like yourself, would venture through mud and slime up to his very neck, to get within rifle shot of a bird so remarkable in form and manners, the Anhingas, or “Grecian Ladies,” stand erect, with their wings and tail fully or partially spread out in the sunshine, whilst their long slender necks and heads are thrown as it were in every direction by the most curious and sudden jerks and bendings. Their bills are open, and you see that the intense heat of the atmosphere induces them to suffer their gular pouch to hang loosely. What delightful sights and scenes these have been to me, good Reader! With what anxiety have I waded toward these birds, to watch their movements, while at the same time I cooled my over-heated body, and left behind on the shores myriads of hungry sand-flies, gnats, mosquitoes, and ticks, that had annoyed me for hours!