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 Chapter 8 Social Stratification and the U.S. Class System

Chapter 8 Social Stratification and the U.S. Class System

Multiple Choice

1) What is the process that sets the stage for social inequality?
A) social differentiation
B) social solidarity
C) the credentialism of society
D) the hidden curriculum in schools
Answer: A
Diff: 3 Page Ref: 199
Skill: Applied

2) Which set of statuses is given the greatest power and prestige in even the simplest of all societies?
A) the young, children, females
B) the old, parents, males
C) the young, parents, females
D) the old, children, males
Answer: B
Diff: 2 Page Ref: 199
Skill: Factual

3) What is the most important variable in determining how permeable social strata can be?
A) the personal fortitude of the individual
B) the nature of the stratification system
C) the social network of the individual
D) the type of government within a society
Answer: B
Diff: 2 Page Ref: 200
Skill: Factual

4) What system of stratification is employed by a society with two distinct strata, a category of people who
are free and a category of people who are legally the property of others?
A) the slave system
B) the estate system
C) the class system
D) the caste system
Answer: A
Diff: 1 Page Ref: 200
Skill: Factual

5) In traditional India what is another name for the castes or major categories in which people are placed
by virtue of birth?
A) strata
B) tracks
C) varna
D) estates
Answer: C
Diff: 2 Page Ref: 201
Skill: Factual

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Test Bank for Thompson and Hickey’s Society in Focus: An Introduction to Sociology, Census Update, 7e

6) In Europe, what was another name for the estate system that developed after the fall of the Roman
empire?
A) totalitarianism
B) socialism
C) capitalism
D) feudalism
Answer: D
Diff: 2 Page Ref: 201
Skill: Factual

7) What is the most recent form of worldwide stratification that is based primarily on economic factors and
achieved statuses?
A) the caste system
B) the track and level system
C) the class system
D) the estate system
Answer: C
Diff: 2 Page Ref: 201
Skill: Factual

8) In open systems of stratification how are boundaries determined?

A) Social boundaries are determined by custom and law.
B) Social boundaries are determined by public attitude and opinion.
C) Social boundaries are determined by achievement.
D) Social boundaries are determined by heredity and family.
Answer: C
Diff: 3 Page Ref: 200
Skill: Applied

9) What position did sociologist Max Weber advocate as the determining variable(s) in assigning social
class?
A) Weber believed one's social class was dependent upon one’s access to the means of production.
B) Weber believed that personal wealth was the only factor important in determining social class.
C) Weber limited social class to royalty who were land owners and peasants who worked for the royalty.
D) Weber believed that social class was a combination of wealth, power, and prestige.
Answer: D
Diff: 2 Page Ref: 202-203
Skill: Applied

10) Which two families of entrepreneurs fall into the category of Old Money?
A) the Trumps and the Gates
B) the Trumps and the Du Ponts
C) the Du Ponts and the Rockefellers
D) the Gates and the Rockefellers
Answer: C
Diff: 2 Page Ref: 208
Skill: Applied

11) In the estate system, what groups hold a monopoly of power and ownership of land?
A) priests and scholars
B) warriors and royalty
C) owners of the means of production
D) religious and political elites
Answer: D
Diff: 2 Page Ref: 201
Skill: Factual

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 Chapter 8 Social Stratification and the U.S. Class System

12) What is the most common length of time that families on welfare receive payments from the
government?
A) one to two years
B) two to five years
C) five to ten years
D) more than ten years
Answer: A
Diff: 3 Page Ref: 215
Skill: Factual

13) What is the term used to describe the norms, values, beliefs, and attitudes that trap a small percentage
of urban poor in a perpetual cycle of poverty?
A) ideology of perpetual poverty
B) relative poverty
C) culture of poverty
D) ideology of economic irresponsibility
Answer: C
Diff: 2 Page Ref: 216
Skill: Factual

14) What theoretical explanation of poverty states that everyone should have the chance to compete on an
equal basis and to win any of society's rewards ?
A) the theory of relative poverty
B) the ideology of equal opportunity
C) the theory of human ecology
D) the ideology of personal responsibility
Answer: B
Diff: 2 Page Ref: 217
Skill: Applied

15) According to conflict theorists, the form of capitalism prominent in the nineteenth century was:
A) equality capitalism
B) competitive capitalism
C) postindustrial capitalism
D) monopoly capitalism
Answer: B
Diff: 3 Page Ref: 222
Skill: Factual

16) According to conflict theorists, the form of capitalism prominent beginning in the twentieth century is:
A) equality capitalism
B) competitive capitalism
C) monopoly capitalism
D) postindustrial capitalism
Answer: C
Diff: 3 Page Ref: 222
Skill: Factual

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Test Bank for Thompson and Hickey’s Society in Focus: An Introduction to Sociology, Census Update, 7e

17) What sociological perspective is aligned with the Davis-Moore hypothesis that inequality is created by
the needs of society and Gans' proposal that poverty can be beneficial to society?
A) the functionalist perspective
B) the conflict perspective
C) the neo-conflict perspective
D) the symbolic interactionist perspective
Answer: A
Diff: 3 Page Ref: 221
Skill: Applied

18) What theory explaining poverty states that each person is largely to blame for his or her own actions,
successes or failures, and social standing?
A) the culture of poverty
B) the ideology of equal opportunity
C) the theory of economic deprivation
D) the ideology of personal responsibility
Answer: D
Diff: 2 Page Ref: 217
Skill: Applied

19) Roger, who holds a Ph.D. in economics, was a Deputy Administrator in a business firm earning in
excess of $100,000 a year. He decided on a career change and was appointed to an associate professorship
at a state university where he makes half as much money as he did as administrator. He and his family still
live in the same home in the suburbs and associate with the same circle of friends. In view of this, which
type of social mobility best describes the transformation Roger has experienced?
A) vertical mobility
B) intergenerational mobility
C) horizontal mobility
D) exchange mobility
Answer: C
Diff: 2 Page Ref: 217
Skill: Conceptual

20) Based on the objective method of assigning socioeconomic status, which of the following variables are
used?
A) race, sex, level of education
B) level of education, race, income
C) sex, occupational prestige, race
D) income, occupational prestige, level of education, neighborhood
Answer: D
Diff: 3 Page Ref: 204
Skill: Applied

21) Approximately what is the percentage of the American population that would be classified as upper
class on the social class ladder?
A) about five percent
B) less than three percent
C) eight percent
D) more than ten percent
Answer: A
Diff: 2 Page Ref: 208
Skill: Factual

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 Chapter 8 Social Stratification and the U.S. Class System

22) Which of the following variables MOST distinguishes members of the upper middle class from the
other social classes in America?
A) Members of the upper middle class are more likely to earn $250,000 a year or more.
B) Members of the upper middle class are more likely to have advanced college degrees.
C) Members of the upper middle class are more likely to be school teachers, midlevel supervisors, and sales
people.
D) Members of the upper middle class pride themselves in doing "real work."
Answer: B
Diff: 2 Page Ref: 209
Skill: Applied

23) What is the qualitative variable that determines if someone falls into absolute poverty?
A) They have a lack of resources relative to others and the overall standards of society.
B) Their income falls below the median average income of society.
C) They have been unemployed for five or more years in a row.
D) Their income prohibits them from affording essentials needed to be functioning members of society.
Answer: D
Diff: 2 Page Ref: 212
Skill: Applied

24) Which of the following statements is MOST ACCURATE regarding the reality of poverty?
A) Most poor people are African Americans.
B) About ten percent of white Americans live in poverty.
C) Asians and African Americans have the highest rates of poverty.
D) Native Americans have the lowest poverty rate among all minorities.
Answer: B
Diff: 3 Page Ref: 213
Skill: Factual

25) Frank is nearly 50 years of age and has not had a job for the past 25 years. He holds a bachelor’s
degree in engineering and is in good health. When he casually discusses his lack of employment with
friends, he tells them "there are no jobs out there," "no one wants to pay me what I'm worth," or "I was
offered a job but it's too far to travel." Based on this scenario, which statement BEST explains Frank's lack
of a job?
A) Frank is trapped in the culture of poverty.
B) Frank is a victim of the ideology of equal opportunity.
C) Frank is experiencing a midlife vocational crisis.
D) Frank is an example of the ideology of personal responsibility.
Answer: D
Diff: 3 Page Ref: 217
Skill: Applied

26) Who were the two sociologists who argued that social stratification is created by the needs of society?
A) Richard Cloward and Lloyd Ohlin
B) Clifford Shaw and Henry McKay
C) Robert Park and Ernest Burgess
D) Kingsley Davis and Wilbert Moore
Answer: D
Diff: 2 Page Ref: 221
Skill: Factual

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Test Bank for Thompson and Hickey’s Society in Focus: An Introduction to Sociology, Census Update, 7e

27) A condition in which people have unequal access to wealth, power, and prestige is ________.
A) social differentiation
B) social inequality
C) social stratification
D) social mobility
Answer: B
Diff: 1 Page Ref: 199
Skill: Factual

28) What is a system called where classes and groups vote in their best interest and at times vote against
others to keep them from dominating the political process?
A) the pluralist perspective
B) the libertarian perspective
C) the centrist perspective
D) the socialist perspective
Answer: A
Diff: 2 Page Ref: 203
Skill: Factual

29) What social class is sometimes referred to as “old money?”

A) The upper-upper class.
B) The working class.
C) The upper-middle class.
D) The lower-upper class.
Answer: A
Diff: 3 Page Ref: 208
Skill: Factual

30) What are the three methods sociologists use to identify social classes?
A) the centrist method, pluralist method, and libertarian method
B) the first-level, second-level, and third-level model
C) the high-income, middle-income, and low-income model
D) the reputational method, subjective method, and objective method
Answer: D
Diff: 3 Page Ref: 204
Skill: Factual

31) Sam qualifies as being in the category of absolute poverty. In view of this, which of the following
statements BEST describes Sam?
A) Sam has less income and resources relative to those living next to him.
B) Sam's income falls below the median average income of others in society.
C) Sam has been unemployed for most of his life.
D) Sam cannot afford the essentials needed to be a functioning member of society.
Answer: D
Diff: 2 Page Ref: 212
Skill: Applied

32) Overall, which minority group has the highest rate of poverty which may reach as much as sixty
percent?
A) African Americans
B) Native Americans
C) Latinos
D) Pacific Islanders
Answer: B
Diff: 3 Page Ref: 213
Skill: Factual

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 Chapter 8 Social Stratification and the U.S. Class System

33) Popeye is nearly 50 years of age but has never held a full-time job. He lives in an area of the inner city
that has been dominated by drug dealers and gangs as long as he can remember. There is no public
transportation where he lives, and most people who aren't drug entrepreneurs get by doing odd jobs. Based
on this scenario, which statement BEST explains Popeye's lack of a job and poor economic status?
A) Popeye is trapped in the culture of relative poverty.
B) Popeye is a victim of the ideology of equal opportunity.
C) Popeye is experiencing the effects of urban gentrification.
D) Popeye is an example of the ideology of personal responsibility.
Answer: B
Diff: 3 Page Ref: 217
Skill: Applied

34) What is the term used to describe the disproportionate share of women and girls among those in
poverty?
A) the feminization of poverty
B) the Gailbraith Syndrome
C) economic sexism
D) the Klinefelter Syndrome
Answer: A
Diff: 1 Page Ref: 214
Skill: Factual

35) Who was the sociologist who argued that social stratification is actually beneficial to society because it
creates jobs for a certain segment of the population and provides a clientele to purchase inferior products
and housing?
A) Lloyd Ohlin
B) Henry McKay
C) Ernest Burgess
D) Herbert Gans
Answer: D
Diff: 2 Page Ref: 221
Skill: Factual

True/False

1) A form of inequality in which categories of people are systematically ranked in a hierarchy on the basis
of their access to scarce but valuable resources is social stratification.
Answer: TRUE
Page Ref: 199

2) Boundaries between social strata are considered as being "semipermeable" meaning they can be crossed,
but only with difficulty.
Answer: TRUE
Page Ref: 200

3) The stratification system defined as a monopoly of power and ownership of land by religious and
political elites is called the caste system.
Answer: FALSE
Page Ref: 201

4) Throughout history, slavery has been considered as the lowest strata in society, one which was
permanent, usually based on racism, and one in which the slave had no legal rights.
Answer: FALSE
Page Ref: 201

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Test Bank for Thompson and Hickey’s Society in Focus: An Introduction to Sociology, Census Update, 7e

5) Competitive capitalism describes a system in which large multinational corporations dominate various
sectors of the economy.
Answer: FALSE
Page Ref: 222

6) Sociologists agree that, like wealth, power is unequally shared.

Answer: TRUE
Page Ref: 203

7) In traditional India the lowest varna, or caste, is occupied by people who do the most undesirable work
and is called the Harijan.
Answer: TRUE
Page Ref: 201

8) In the class system, the two principal means of ranking are based on race and ethnicity.
Answer: FALSE
Page Ref: 201

9) In closed systems of stratification boundaries are determined by ascribed status such as heredity.
Answer: TRUE
Page Ref: 200

10) With the exception of the upper class, the remaining four social classes are relatively equal in size,
although there is a considerable difference in their incomes and lifestyles.
Answer: FALSE
Page Ref: 207-211

11) In a class system, the PRIMARY economic asset for most people that enters into their status of wealth
is income earned in the form of wages and salaries.
Answer: TRUE
Page Ref: 202

12) The American social class most defined by advanced college degrees and that has an annual household
income of $100,000 or more is the upper class.
Answer: FALSE
Page Ref: 209

13) Of all industrial nations, the United States has the highest rate of young children (under the age of six)
living in poverty.
Answer: TRUE
Page Ref: 214

14) More of the nation's poor live in central cities than in the suburbs and rural areas combined.
Answer: TRUE
Page Ref: 214

15) The number of homeless people in America ranges from a conservative estimate of 250,000 to as many
as two million if a more strict definition of homelessness is used.
Answer: TRUE
Page Ref: 215

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 Chapter 8 Social Stratification and the U.S. Class System

16) Although America is considered as the land of opportunity, fewer than one percent of the members of
society move from the bottom to the top of the social hierarchy according to a study by Peter Blau and Otis
Duncan.
Answer: TRUE
Page Ref: 219

17) The hypothesis of Kingsley Davis and Wilbert Moore that social inequality is created by the needs of
society is generally accepted as the prominent belief of most sociologists.
Answer: FALSE
Page Ref: 221

18) Most capitalist nations have an economy based on competitive capitalism rather than monopoly
capitalism.
Answer: FALSE
Page Ref: 222

19) Current immigration policies of the United States favor the wealthy, educated professionals from other
countries, especially wealthy Asian families from Hong Kong and other Pacific Rim nations.
Answer: TRUE
Page Ref: 223

20) Today, 5 out of 6 of the wealthiest people in the United States continue to make their fortune in the
manufacturing sector.
Answer: FALSE
Page Ref: 223

Fill-in-the-Blanks

1) Max Weber stated social class ranking was dependent on three factors which were a person’s access to
________, ________, and ________.
Answer: wealth, power, prestige
Page Ref: 202

2) The process in which people are set apart for differential treatment by virtue of their statuses, roles, and
other social characteristics is ________.
Answer: social differentiation
Page Ref: 199

3) The ability to realize one's will, even against resistance and the opposition of others is called ________.
Answer: power
Page Ref: 202

4) The term used to describe opportunities for securing things such as health, education, autonomy, leisure,
and a long life is ________.
Answer: life chances
Page Ref: 217

5) The distinctive ways in which group members consume goods and services and display rank is called
________.
Answer: lifestyle
Page Ref: 221

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Test Bank for Thompson and Hickey’s Society in Focus: An Introduction to Sociology, Census Update, 7e

6) The term culture of poverty, used to describe the norms, values, beliefs, and attitudes that trap a small
percentage of urban poor in a perpetual cycle of poverty, was coined by ________.
Answer: Oscar Lewis
Page Ref: 216

7) A form of inequality in which categories of people are systematically ranked in a hierarchy on the basis
of their access to scarce but valuable resources is ________.
Answer: social stratification
Page Ref: 199

8) The form of power Max Weber believed carried the greatest weight in the conduct of human affairs was
________.
Answer: authority
Page Ref: 203
9) A ranking that combines income, occupational prestige, level of education, and neighborhood to assess
people's positions in the stratification system is called ________.
Answer: socioeconomic status
Page Ref: 204

10) The term ________ refers to people who fall below a minimum subsistence level and are unable to
function as members of society, whereas ________ refers to people who lack resources relative to others
and the overall standard of society.
Answer: absolute poverty; relative poverty
Page Ref: 212

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 Chapter 8 Social Stratification and the U.S. Class System

Matching
Match the following:

1) The sociologist who defined wealth as including a person's or A) wealth

family's total economic assets.
Page Ref: 202
2) The American businessman who is a new money billionaire made in B) prestige
a computer software company.
Page Ref: 206
3) The anthropologist who coined the term "culture of poverty." C) upper middle class
Page Ref: 216
4) A person's or family's total economic assets. D) social mobility
Page Ref: 202
5) Along with Wilbert Moore this sociologist argued that inequality is E) lifestyles
created by the needs of society.
Page Ref: 221
6) The respect and admiration people attach to various social positions. F) Lyndon B. Johnson
Page Ref: 203
7) The social scientist who noted that those at the top of the social G) Bill Gates
hierarchy typically convert wealth into prestige through
conspicuous consumption.
Page Ref: 221
8) The "overworked" and "overspent" class of Americans that includes H) Thorsten Veblen
teachers and midlevel supervisors.
Page Ref: 209
9) The American social class that constitutes 15 percent of the I) lower middle class
population and is characterized by members with advanced college
degrees.
Page Ref: 209
10) The politician who linked welfare benefits to work, transforming J) Oscar Lewis
"welfare" to "workfare."
Page Ref: 225
11) The politician who declared a "War on Poverty" as a part of his K) William Jefferson Clinton
national platform.
Page Ref: 212
12) A set of norms, beliefs, values, and attitudes that trap a small L) culture of poverty
number of urban poor in a permanent cycle of poverty.
Page Ref: 216
13) Opportunities for securing such things as health, education, M) life chances
autonomy, leisure, and a long life.
Page Ref: 217
14) The movement of people from one social position to another in the N) Max Weber
stratification system.
Page Ref: 217
15) The distinctive ways in which group members consume goods and O) Kingsley Davis
services and display rank.
Page Ref: 221

1) N 2) G 3) J 4) A
5) O 6) B 7) H 8) I
9) C 10) K 11) F 12) L
13) M 14) D 15) E

Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Test Bank for Thompson and Hickey’s Society in Focus: An Introduction to Sociology, Census Update, 7e

Essay

1) Discuss the three primary factors that determine social class ranking in the United States. Why are these
criteria inadequate in developing an objective image of one's social class?
Answer: Weber stated the three components that combine to determine one's social class are wealth, power,
and prestige. This may account for why individuals who accumulate wealth in devious ways fail to
be classified as a higher social class than hard-working, legitimate members of society. Wealth
includes a person's or family's total economic assets. This includes both property and income.
Power is the ability to realize one's will even against resistance and the opposition of others.
Personal power is the ability to make decisions that affect one's own life, and social power refers
to the ability to make decisions that affect the lives of other people. Prestige is the respect and
admiration people attach to various social positions that may be either achieved statuses, such as
occupation and level of education, or ascribed status, such as race and sex. Of the three factors,
wealth is given more credence in determining one's social class than the other two. The formula
fails to take into consideration other factors that members of society value, albeit they may be
prejudicial, such as sex, race, and ethnicity in determining social class as well as level of
education, occupation, and neighborhood.
Page Ref: 201-205

2) Identify and discuss the five major social class groupings in the United States.
Answer: (1) The Upper Class: This class constitutes about 5% of the population. The net worth of members
of this class extends into the millions and billions of dollars. Members of this class dominate
corporate America. This class includes Old Money that has been in families for generations, such
as the Du Ponts and Rockefellers, and New Money that includes the Walton family of Wal-Mart
fame and Bill Gates of Microsoft.
(2) Upper Middle Class: The upper middle class comprises about 15% of the population, includes
professional employees such as corporate executives, physicians, attorneys, and white-collar
management. Age is an important variable in this class, and advanced college degrees are a
common factor. As members of this class become older they have more money to invest.
(3) Lower Middle Class: This class includes 33% of the population. Members of this class share
the same values of the upper middle class but lack the affluence because of a reduced income.
Many members have degrees from community colleges or state universities. They are often
supervised by members of the upper middle class. The authors classify this group as being
"overworked" and "overspent."
(4) Working Class: The working class constitutes 30% of the population and includes both blue-
collar and clerical workers who work for low wages and sometimes in unpleasant and dangerous
conditions. This class enjoys less benefits than classes above them but are proud of doing "real
work."
(5) Lower Class: This class includes the poor and constitutes 14% of the population. Most of the
members of this class work at erratic jobs that pay minimum wage. The class also includes the
chronically unemployed, the homeless, and people on welfare. The most deprived members of this
class account for about three million Americans or 1% of the population.
Page Ref: 207-211

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 Chapter 8 Social Stratification and the U.S. Class System

3) Discuss the two dominant ideologies of what creates social class in the United States. Who would most
likely be a supporter of each particular ideology?
Answer: The ideology of personal responsibility and the ideology of equal opportunity are the two
competing ideologies to explain the development of the social class system in the United States.
The ideology of personal responsibility is embraced by Americans who value their independence,
the chance to compete as individuals, and the ability to make personal choices. The ideology of
personal responsibility maintains that each person is largely responsible for his or her own actions,
successes or failures, and social standing. Upper-class Americans would be more likely to
embrace this ideology. They would look down upon welfare recipients and those who are
unemployed.

The ideology of equal opportunity takes an opposite view to the ideology of personal
responsibility. It maintains that everyone should have the chance to compete on an equal basis
with everyone else and to win society's rewards. Individuals who embrace this view tend to see the
unequal distribution of wealth, power, and prestige as inevitable and even socially beneficial. They
believe the gifted and hard-working rise to the top, and those lacking these qualities fall to the
bottom. Social reformers and others who believe more in the conflict perspective would point to
this ideology as the reason for people being unemployed; it is no fault of their own but the fault of
society's social structure that results in a large percentage of the population being unemployed,
underemployed, and in poverty.
Page Ref: 216-217

4) Summarize the main points of the three sociological perspectives as they relate to social stratification.
Answer: Followers of the functionalist perspective argue that social inequality that leads to social
stratification is created by the needs of society. The differential reward structure motivates people
to defer gratification and spend many years training for specialized work. Another aspect of the
functionalist perspective is that it benefits the segments of society who make their living assisting,
controlling, or serving the poor.

The interactionist perspective focuses on how members of all classes use symbols, language,
clothing, and other things to differentiate themselves from other social levels. Class boundaries are
also maintained by language, speech patterns, and pronunciation. The differences in these patterns
reflect varying levels of educational achievement, occupational status, and lifestyle.

Conflict theorists believe there are only two major groups, those who own the means of
production and those who work for the owners of the means of production, who are exploited.
The conflict perspective was based on Karl Marx’s class conflict, with family-owned business and
competitive capitalism. However, in the twentieth century, large multinational corporations
dominated various sections of the economy in monopoly capitalism, and in the twenty-first
century, multinationals seek profit throughout the world. Page Ref: 221-222

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Test Bank for Thompson and Hickey’s Society in Focus: An Introduction to Sociology, Census Update, 7e

5) Develop a profile of the poor in the United States relying on factual data supported by research rather
than media images and myth.
Answer: About 14 percent of the American population, over 43 million Americans, qualify as being in
poverty. But because of the high turnover rate of the number of people in poverty, the total
number in one year may be closer to 20 percent of the population. The majority of the poor, about
46 percent of those classified as being poor, are white. Proportionately only about 10 percent of
the white population is in poverty. The greatest proportion of those in poverty is accounted for by
African Americans (24.5% of the African-American population), Latinos (21.5% of the Latino
population), and Native Americans (25% of the Native American population...perhaps as many as
60 percent). Asian Americans have a proportion of their population in poverty similar to white
Americans. Children are most adversely affected by poverty, followed by women. The
feminization of poverty refers to the disproportionate number of women trapped in poverty, many
of whom are single mothers with dependent children. Although poverty is basically an urban
problem, with 60 percent of the nation's poor living in cities, this leaves 40 percent of the nation's
poor living in rural America. Many poor people are employed, some being fully employed.
However, their wages are so low that, combined with their family size, they are still considered to
be poor. The image of the poor being only "skid row bums," the homeless, and destitute is a myth
partially perpetuated by the mass media. There are fewer elderly people in poverty today than in
the past.
Page Ref: 213-216

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 KNOT OR ASH-COLOURED SANDPIPER.

Tringa islandica, Linn.

PLATE CCCXV. Adult in Summer and Winter.

The Knot, good Reader, is a handsome and interesting species,

whether in its spring or in its winter plumage, and, provided it be
young and fat, is always welcome to the palate of the connoisseur in
dainties. As to its habits, however, during the breeding season, I am
sorry to inform you that I know nothing at all, for in Labrador, whither
I went to examine them, I did not find a single individual. I have been
informed that several students of nature have visited its breeding
places; but why they have given us no information on the subject,
seeing that not only you and I, but many persons besides, would be
glad to hear about it, is what we cannot account for.
I do not wish you to infer from these remarks, that the persons
alluded to are the only ones who have neglected to note down on the
spot observations which might be interesting and useful. I myself am
very conscious of my own remissness in this respect, and deeply
regret the many opportunities of studying nature which have been in
a manner lost to me, on account of a temporary supineness which
has seized upon me, at the very moment when the objects of my
pursuit were placed within my reach by that bountiful Being to whom
we owe all our earthly enjoyments, and all our hopes of that future
happiness which we strive to merit.
I have traced the Knot along the shores of our Atlantic states, from
Texas to the entrance of the Bay of Fundy, in the months of April and
May, and again in the autumnal months. I have also found it in winter
in East Florida, and therefore feel confident that some of the species
do not proceed beyond our southern limits at that season. Whilst on
the Bay of Galveston, in Texas, in April 1837, I daily observed groups
of Knots arriving there, and proceeding eastward, meandering along
the shores of the Gulf of Mexico. In the interior of the United States I
never observed one, and for this reason I am inclined to think that
the species moves northward along the coast. But as I did not find
any in Nova Scotia, Labrador, or Newfoundland, I consider it
probable that those which betake themselves to the fur countries,
turn off from our Atlantic shores when they have reached the
entrance of the Bay of Fundy. However this may be, it is certain that
they reach a very high latitude, and that some stop to breed about
Hudson’s Bay, where Dr Richardson found them in summer.
On some few occasions I have observed the Knot associating with
the Tell-tale Godwit and Semi-palmated Snipe, about a mile from the
sea, along the margins of ponds of brackish-water; but such
localities seemed in a manner unnatural to them, and it was seldom
that more than two or three were seen there. Along the shores, in
spring, I have not unfrequently thought that they seemed dull, as if
they had lost themselves, for they would allow a person to go very
near, and seldom took to wing unless induced to do so by
companions of other species, who were better aware of their
situation. In autumn, when they at times collect into very large flocks,
I have often followed them until I obtained as many as I wished.
Wilson has so beautifully described their movements at such times,
that, although I have often witnessed them myself, I prefer giving his
own words.
“In activity it is superior to the Turnstone; and traces the flowing and
recession of the waves along the sandy beach with great
nimbleness, wading and searching among the loosened particles for
its favourite food, which is a small thin oval bivalve shell-fish, of a
white or pearl-colour, and not larger than the seed of an apple.
These usually lie at a short distance below the surface; but in some
places are seen at low water in heaps, like masses of wet grain, in
quantities of more than a bushel together. During the latter part of
summer and autumn, these minute shell-fish constitute the food of
almost all those busy flocks that run with such activity along the
sands, among the flowing and retreating waves. They are universally
swallowed whole; but the action of the bird’s stomach, assisted by
the shells themselves, soon reduces them to a pulp. Digging for
these in the hard sand would be a work of considerable labour,
whereas, when the particles are loosened by the flowing of the sea,
the birds collect them with great ease and dexterity. It is amusing to
observe with what adroitness they follow and elude the tumbling surf,
while at the same time they seem wholly intent on collecting their
food.”
I have however seen the Knot probe the wet sands, on the borders
of oozy salt marshes, thrusting in its bill to the feathers on the
forehead, and this with the same dexterity as several other species.
Its flight is swift, at times rather elevated, and well sustained. At their
first arrival in autumn, when they are occasionally seen in great
numbers in the same flock, their aërial evolutions are very beautiful,
for, like our Parrakeet, Passenger Pigeon, Rice-bird, Red-winged
Starling, and other birds, they follow each other in their course, with
a celerity that seems almost incomprehensible, when the individuals
are so near each other that one might suppose it impossible for them
to turn and wheel without interfering with each other. At such times,
their lower and upper parts are alternately seen, the flock exhibiting
now a dusky appearance, and again gleaming like a meteor.
Many of these young birds continue mottled with dull reddish-orange
on their lower parts until the winter is far advanced. The old
individuals have their whole upper plumage of a uniform grey, and
their lower parts white. As those of the first year have their markings
at that season handsomer than at any other period of their lives, I
have given the figure of one in preference to that of an adult.
It has been supposed by some that two different species of Knot
occur in the United States, but I am of a different opinion. The
dimensions of birds of this family, as well as of many others, are
extremely variable; and, on shooting eight or ten Knots, it would be
difficult to find two of them having exactly the same size and
proportions. If I add to this the very remarkable changes of plumage
exhibited by birds of this family before and after maturity, you will not
think it strange that Wilson should have mistaken the young of the
Knot for a separate species from the old bird in its spring dress.
Indeed, I am obliged to tell you that I have been much puzzled,
when, on picking up several of these birds from the same flock, I
have found some having longer and thicker bills than others, with as
strange a difference in the size of their eyes. These differences I
have endeavoured to represent in my plate.
My friend John Bachman states, that this species is quite abundant
in South Carolina, in its autumn and spring migrations, but that he
has never seen it there in full plumage. In that country it is called the
“May Bird,” which, however, is a name also given to the Rice Bird.
Along the coasts of our Middle District, it is usually known by the
name of “Grey-back.”

Tringa islandica, Canutus, cinerea, grisea, &c. of Linnæus and Latham,

&c.
Tringa islandica, Ch. Bonaparte, Synopsis of Birds of United States, p. 350.
Red-breasted Sandpiper, Tringa rufa, Wils. Amer. Ornith. vol. vii. p. 43, pl.
57, fig. 5. Summer.
Ash-coloured Sandpiper, Tringa cinerea, Wils. Amer. Ornith. vol. vii. p.
36, pl. 57, fig. 2. Winter.
 Knot, or Ash-coloured Sandpiper, Nuttall, Manual, vol. ii. p. 125.
Tringa cinerea, Richards. and Swains. Fauna Bor.-Amer. vol. ii. p. 387.

Adult Male in Summer. Plate CCCXV. Fig. 1.

Bill rather longer than the head, slender, straight, compressed,
tapering, with the tip a little enlarged and blunt. Upper mandible with
the dorsal line straight, and slightly declinate, the ridge narrow and
flattened until towards the end, when it becomes considerably
broader, the sides sloping, the tip convex above and ending in a
blunt point, the edges thick and flattened. Nasal groove extending to
near the tip; nostrils basal, linear, pervious. Lower mandible with the
angle long and very narrow, the dorsal line straight, the sides sloping
outwards, with a long narrow groove, the tip a little broader, but
tapering.
Head rather small, oblong, compressed. Eyes of moderate size.
Neck of ordinary length. Body rather full. Feet rather long, slender;
tibia bare, a third part of its length; tarsus somewhat compressed,
anteriorly and posteriorly with numerous small scutella; hind toe very
small, the rest of moderate length, slender, the fourth slightly longer
than the second, the third longest; all free, broadly marginate,
flattened beneath, and with numerous scutella above. Claws small,
slightly arched, compressed, rather obtuse, that of the third toe much
larger, with the inner edge dilated.
Plumage very soft, blended on the head, neck, and lower parts, the
feathers rather distinct above. Wings very long and pointed;
primaries tapering, obtuse, the first longest, the second two-twelfths
of an inch shorter, the rest rapidly decreasing; outer secondaries
slightly incurved, inner elongated, straight and tapering, one of them
extending when the wing is closed, to an inch and a quarter from its
tip. Tail rather short, nearly even, of twelve rather broad feathers
which taper to a broad point.
Bill and feet black. Iris dark hazel. Upper part of the head and hind
neck light grey, tinged with buff, and longitudinally streaked with
dusky; fore part of back and scapulars, variegated with brownish-
black and yellowish, and each feather with several spots of the latter
and tipped with whitish; the hind part of the back, rump, and upper
tail-coverts, white, barred with black; wing-coverts ash-grey, edged
with paler. Alula and primary-coverts brownish-black, tipped with
white; primaries similar, their shafts and the outer margins of all
excepting the first three, white, the inner webs towards the base light
grey; secondaries and their coverts grey, margined with white. Tail-
feathers ash-grey tinged with brown, and narrowly edged with white.
The sides of the head, fore part of neck, breast, and abdomen, rich
brownish-orange; lower tail-coverts and feathers of the legs, white,
each of the former with a central dusky narrow-shaped or elongated
spot, axillaries white barred with dusky; lower wing-coverts dusky
with white margins.
Length to end of tail 10 1/4 inches, to end of wings 10 3/4, to end of
claws 11 1/2; extent of wings 21; wing from flexure 7; tail 2 9/12; bill
along the ridge 1 4 1/2/12, along the edge of lower mandible 1 4 1/2/12;
tarsus 1 1/4; hind toe and claw 4/12; middle toe and claw 1 1 1/2/12.
Weight 5 1/2 oz.
The female is similar to the male, but considerably larger.
Length to end of tail 10 3/4 inches. Weight 6 ounces.

In Winter. Plate CCCXV. Fig. 2.

Bill greenish-black, eye of a darker brown. Feet dull yellowish-green;
claws dusky. The upper parts are deep ash-grey, each feather
margined with whitish; feathers of the rump greyish-white, upper tail-
coverts white, barred with dusky. The quills and tail feathers as in
summer. A band from the bill over the eye to the hind part of head,
white; loral space, cheeks, and sides of neck pale grey, streaked
with darker; throat and lower parts in general, white; the sides, axillar
feathers, and under wing-coverts, barred or spotted with dusky;
lower tail-coverts as in summer.
The young in autumn are of a dull light brownish-grey colour above,
each feather having a narrow whitish margin, within which is a dusky
line. The fore part and sides of the neck, and the fore part of the
breast dull greyish-white, with small dusky-grey longitudinal streaks;
the band over the eye indistinct, the loral space darker. The bill and
feet are of a duller tint, and the eye darker, than in the adult in winter.
Weight 4 1/4 oz.

On the roof of the mouth is a double series of small blunt papillæ.

The tongue is very slender, 1 1/12 inch long, emarginate and papillate
at the base, channelled above, horny beneath, the point rather
acute. The œsophagus is 4 3/4 inches long, narrow, its diameter 3 1/2
twelfths. The proventriculus is oblong, 5 1/2 twelfths in diameter, 9
twelfths long. The stomach is an extremely powerful gizzard, of a
roundish form, 1 inch and 5 twelfths long, its greatest breadth 1 1/4
inch; the cuticular lining thin, horny, with large longitudinal rugæ. The
intestine 25 inches long, its average diameter 3 1/2 twelfths; cœca
cylindrical, 3 twelfths long. The contents of the stomach are
fragments of mussels and gravel, with which part of the intestine is
also filled.
The trachea is 3 1/4 inches long, flattened, 2 1/2 twelfths broad at the
top, diminishing to 2 twelfths; its rings very slender and unossified,
98 in number; the bronchial half-rings about 15. The lateral muscles
very thin, the sterno-tracheal slender.
 ANHINGA OR SNAKE-BIRD.

Plotus Anhinga, Linn.

PLATE CCCXVI. Male and Female.

Reader, the pleasures which I have experienced in the course of this

chequered life of mine have been many;—perhaps many more than
would have fallen to my share, had I not, fortunately for me, become
a devoted and enthusiastic lover of Nature’s beauteous and
wondrous works, which, in truth, I have been from the earliest period
to which my recollection extends; and those who have known me
best will not for a moment consider it extravagant in me to say, that
among the greatest pleasures I have known, has been that derived
from pursuing and faithfully describing such of our American birds as
were previously unknown or but little observed. Many sultry summer
days I have passed amidst the most dismal swamps of the secluded
woods of Louisiana, watching with anxiety and in silence the curious
habits of the Anhinga; the female bird now sitting closely on her
eggs, in a nest constructed by herself and securely placed on the
widely extended branch of the tallest cypress, that, as if by magic
planted, stood in the midst of an ample lake, while with keen eyes
she watched every motion of the wily Buzzard and cunning Crow,
lest either of these cowardly marauders might deprive her of her
treasures; the partner of her cares and joys meanwhile, with
outspread wings and fan-like tail, soaring on high, and glancing first
anxiously towards her he loves, then in anger towards one and all of
their numerous enemies. In wider and bolder circles he moves, rising
higher and still higher, until at length, becoming a mere dusky speck,
he almost vanishes from my sight amidst the expanse of the blue
sky; but now, suddenly closing his wings, and rushing downwards
like a meteor, I see him instantly alight erect upon the edge of the
nest, and complacently gaze upon his beloved.
After some time, about three weeks perhaps, I have found the
eggshells beneath the great cypress tree, cast out of the nest by the
intelligent and attentive mother, and floating on the green slime of
the stagnant pool. Climbing to the nest itself, I have seen the tender
young clad in down far softer than our sea-island cottons, writhing
their slender and tremulous necks, and with open mouths and
extended pouches seeking, as all infants are wont to seek, the food
suited to their delicate frame. Then, retiring to some concealed spot,
I have seen the mother arrive with a supply of finely masticated
nutriment, compounded of various fishes from the lake, and furnish
each of her progeny by regurgitation with its due proportion. Thus,
also, I have watched the growth of the younglings, marking their
daily progress, which varied according to the changes of
temperature and the state of the atmosphere. At length, after waiting
many days in succession, I have seen them stand, in an almost erect
posture, on a space scarcely large enough to contain them. The
parents seemed aware of the condition of their brood, and,
affectionate as they still appeared to be, I thought their manner
towards them was altered, and I felt grieved. Indeed, sorely grieved I
was when, next week, I saw them discharge, as it were, their
children, and force them from the nest into the waters that were
spread below. It is true that, previous to this, I had seen the young
Anhingas trying the power of their wings as they stood upright on the
nest, flapping them many minutes at a time; yet, although thus
convinced that they were nearly in a state to provide for themselves,
it was not without a feeling of despondency that I saw them hurled
into the air, and alight on the water. But, Reader, Nature in all this
had acted beneficially; and I afterwards found that in thus expelling
their young so soon, the old birds had in view to rear another brood
in the same spot, before the commencement of unfavourable
weather.
Many writers have described what they have been pleased to call
the habits of the Anhinga; nay, some have presumed to offer
comments upon them, and to generalize and form theories thereon,
or even to inform us gravely and oracularly what they ought to be,
when the basis of all their fancies was merely a dried skin and
feathers appended. Leaving these ornithologists for the present to
amuse themselves in their snug closets, I proceed to detail the real
habits of this curious bird, as I have observed and studied them in
Nature.
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 Coup, call it “Bec à 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.
Those which, on the one hand, ascend the Mississippi, and, on the
other, visit the Carolinas, arrive at their several places of resort early
in April, in some seasons even in March, and there remain until the
beginning of November. Although this bird is occasionally seen in the
immediate vicinity of the sea, and at times breeds not far from it, I
never met with an individual fishing in salt water. It gives a decided
preference to rivers, lakes, bayous, or lagoons in the interior, always
however in the lowest and most level parts of the country. The more
retired and secluded the spot, the more willingly does the Snake-Bird
remain about it. Sometimes indeed I have suddenly come on some
in such small ponds, which I discovered by mere accident, and in
parts of woods so very secluded, that I was taken by surprise on
seeing them. The Floridas therefore are peculiarly adapted for this
species, as there the torpid waters of the streams, bayous, and
lakes, are most abundantly supplied with various species of fish,
reptiles, and insects, while the temperature is at all seasons
congenial, and their exemption from annoyance almost unparalleled.
Wherever similar situations occur in other parts of the Southern
States, there the Anhingas are met with in numbers proportioned to
the extent of the favourable localities. It is very seldom indeed that
any are seen on rapid streams, and more especially on clear water,
a single instance of such an occurrence being all that I have
observed. Wherever you may chance to find this bird, you will
perceive that it has not left itself without the means of escape; you
will never find one in a pond or bayou completely enclosed by tall
trees, so as to obstruct its passage; but will observe that it generally
prefers ponds or lakes, surrounded by deep and almost
impenetrable morasses, and having a few large trees growing out of
the water near their centre, from the branches of which they can
easily mark the approach of an enemy, and make their escape in
good time. Unlike the Fish-hawk and Kings-fisher, the Anhinga
however never plunges or dives from an eminence in procuring its
prey, although from its habit of occasionally dropping in silence to the
water from its perch, for the purpose of afterwards swimming about
and diving in the manner of the Cormorant, some writers have been
led to believe that it does so.
The Black-bellied Darter, all whose names I shall use, for the
purpose of avoiding irksome repetitions, may be considered as
indefinitely gregarious; by which I mean that you may see eight or
more together at times, during winter especially, or only two, as in
the breeding season. On a few occasions, whilst in the interior of the
southernmost parts of Florida, I saw about thirty individuals on the
same lake. While exploring the St John’s River of that country in its
whole length, I sometimes saw several hundreds together. I procured
a great number on that stream, on the lakes in its neighbourhood,
and also on those near the plantation of Mr Bulow, on the eastern
side of the Peninsula. I observed that the young Darters, as well as
those of the Cormorants, Herons, and many other birds, kept apart
from the old individuals, which they however joined in spring, when
they had attained their full beauty of plumage.
The Anhinga is altogether a diurnal bird, and, like the Cormorant, is
fond of returning to the same roosting place every evening about
dusk, unless prevented by molestation. At times I have seen from
three to seven alight on the dead top branches of a tall tree, for the
purpose of there spending the night; and this they repeated for
several weeks, until on my having killed some of them and wounded
others, the rest abandoned the spot, and after several furious
contests with a party that roosted about two miles off, succeeding in
establishing themselves among them. At such times they seldom sit
very near each other, as Cormorants do, but keep at a distance of a
few feet or yards, according to the nature of the branches. Whilst
asleep, they stand with the body almost erect, but never bend the
tarsus so as to apply it in its whole length, as the Cormorant does;
they keep their head snugly covered among their scapulars, and at
times emit a wheezing sound, which I supposed to be produced by
their breathing. In rainy weather they often remain roosted the
greater part of the day, and on such occasions they stand erect, with
their neck and head stretched upwards, remaining perfectly
motionless, as if to allow the water to glide off their plumage. Now
and then, however, they suddenly ruffle their feathers, violently
shake themselves, and again compressing their form, resume their
singular position.
Their disposition to return to the same roosting places is so decided
that, when chased from their places of resort, they seldom fail to
betake themselves to them during the day; and in this manner they
may easily be procured with some care. Whilst at Mr Bulow’s, I was
almost daily in the habit of visiting a long, tortuous, bayou, many
miles in extent, which at that season (winter) was abundantly
supplied with Anhingas. There the Otter, the Alligator, and many
species of birds, found an ample supply of food; and as I was
constantly watching them, I soon discovered a roosting place of the
Snake-Birds, which was a large dead tree. I found it impossible to
get near them either by cautiously advancing in the boat, or by
creeping among the briars, canes, and tangled palmettoes which
profusely covered the banks. I therefore paddled directly to the
place, accompanied by my faithful and sagacious Newfoundland
dog. At my approach the birds flew off towards the upper parts of the
stream, and as I knew that they might remain for hours, I had a boat
sent after them with orders to the Negroes to start all that they could
see. Dragging up my little bark, I then hid myself among the tangled
plants, and, with my eyes bent on the dead tree, and my gun in
readiness, I remained until I saw the beautiful bird alight and gaze
around to see if all was right. Alas! it was not aware of its danger,
but, after a few moments, during which I noted its curious motions, it
fell dead into the water, while the reverberations consequent on the
discharge of my gun alarmed the birds around, and by looking either
up or down the bayou I could see many Anhingas speeding away to
other parts. My dog, as obedient as the most submissive of servants,
never stirred until ordered, when he would walk cautiously into the
water, swim up to the dead bird, and having brought it to me, lie
down gently in his place. In this manner, in the course of one day I
procured fourteen of these birds, and wounded several others. 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! And oh! how great has been my
pleasure when, after several failures, I have at last picked up the
spotted bird, examined it with care, and then returned to the gloomy
shore, to note my observations! Great too is my pleasure in now
relating to you the results of my long personal experience, together
with that of my excellent friend Dr Bachman, who has transmitted his
observations on this bird to me.
Wilson, I am inclined to think, never saw a live Anhinga; and the
notes, furnished by Mr Abbot of Georgia, which he has published,
are very far from being correct. In the supplementary volumes of
American Ornithology published in Philadelphia, the Editor, who
visited the Floridas; added nothing of importance beyond giving
more accurate measurements of a single specimen than Wilson
had given from the stuffed skins from which he made his figures, and
which were in the museum of that city.
The peculiar form, long wings, and large fan-like tail of the Anhinga,
would at once induce a person looking upon it to conclude that it was
intended by nature rather for protracted and powerful flight, than for
spending as it does more than half of its time by day in the water,
where its progress, one might suppose, would be greatly impeded by
the amplitude of these parts. Yet how different from such a
supposition is the fact? The Anhinga in truth is the very first of all
fresh-water divers. With the quickness of thought it disappears
beneath the surface, and that so as scarcely to leave a ripple on the
spot; and when your anxious eyes seek around for the bird, you are
astonished to find it many hundred yards distant, the head perhaps
merely above water for a moment; or you may chance to perceive
the bill alone gently cutting the water, and producing a line of wake
not observable beyond the distance of thirty yards from where you
are standing. With habits like these it easily eludes all your efforts to
procure it. When shot at while perched, however severely wounded
they may be, they fall at once perpendicularly, the bill downward, the
wings and tail closed, and then dive and make their way under water
to such a distance that they are rarely obtained. Should you,
however, see them again, and set out in pursuit, they dive along the
shores, attach themselves to roots of trees or plants by the feet, and
so remain until life is extinct. When shot dead on the trees, they
sometimes cling so firmly to the branches that you must wait some
minutes before they fall.
The generally received opinion or belief that the Anhinga always
swims with its body sunk beneath the surface is quite incorrect; for it
does so only when in sight of an enemy, and when under no
apprehension of danger it is as buoyant as any other diving bird,
such as a Cormorant, a Merganser, a Grebe, or a Diver. This
erroneous opinion has, however, been adopted simply because few
persons have watched the bird with sufficient care. When it first
observes an enemy, it immediately sinks its body deeper, in the
manner of the birds just mentioned, and the nearer the danger
approaches, the more does it sink, until at last it swims off with the
head and neck only above the surface, when these parts, from their
form and peculiar sinuous motion, somewhat resemble the head and
part of the body of a snake. It is in fact from this circumstance that
the Anhinga has received the name of Snake-Bird. At such a time, it
is seen constantly turning its head from side to side, often opening
its bill as if for the purpose of inhaling a larger quantity of air, to
enable it the better to dive, and remain under water so long that
when it next makes its appearance it is out of your reach. When
fishing in a state of security it dives precisely like a Cormorant,
returns to the surface as soon as it has procured a fish or other
article of food, shakes it, if it is not too large often throws it up into
the air, and receiving it conveniently in the bill, swallows it at once,
and recommences its search. But I doubt much if it ever seizes on
any thing that it cannot thus swallow whole. They have the curious
habit of diving under any floating substances, such as parcels of
dead weeds or leaves of trees which have accidentally been
accumulated by the winds or currents, or even the green slimy
substances produced by putrefaction. This habit is continued by the
species when in a perfect state of domestication, for I have seen one
kept by my friend John Bachman thus diving when within a few feet
of a quantity of floating rice-chaff, in one of the tide-ponds in the
neighbourhood of Charleston. Like the Common Goose, it invariably
depresses its head while swimming under a low bridge, or a branch
or trunk of a tree hanging over the water. When it swims beneath the
surface of the water, it spreads its wings partially, but does not
employ them as a means of propulsion, and keeps its tail always
considerably expanded, using the feet as paddles either
simultaneously, or alternately.
The quantity of fish consumed by this bird is astonishing; and what I
am about to relate on this subject will appear equally so. One
morning Dr Bachman and I gave to an Anhinga a Black Fish,
measuring nine and a half inches, by two inches in diameter; and
although the head of the fish was considerably larger than its body,
and its strong and spinous fins appeared formidable, the bird, which
was then about seven months old, swallowed it entire, head
foremost. It was in appearance digested in an hour and a half, when
the bird swallowed three others of somewhat smaller size. At another
time, we placed before it a number of fishes about seven and a half
inches long, of which it swallowed nine in succession. It would
devour at a meal forty or more fishes about three inches and a half
long. On several occasions it was fed on Plaice, when it swallowed
some that were four inches broad, extending its throat, and
compressing them during their descent into the stomach. It did not
appear to relish eels, as it eat all the other sorts first, and kept them
to the last; and after having swallowed them, it had great difficulty in
keeping them down, but, although for a while thwarted, it would
renew its efforts, and at length master them. When taken to the tide-
pond at the foot of my friend’s garden, it would now and then after
diving return to the surface of the water with a cray-fish in its mouth,
which it pressed hard and dashed about in its bill, evidently for the
purpose of maiming it, before it would attempt to swallow it, and it
never caught a fish without bringing it up to subject it to the same
operation.
While residing near Bayou Sara, in the State of Mississippi, I was in
the habit of occasionally visiting some acquaintances residing at
Pointe Coup, nearly opposite the mouth of the bayou. One day, on
entering the house of an humble settler close on the western bank of
the Mississippi, I observed two young Anhingas that had been taken
out of a nest containing four, which had been built on a high cypress
in a lake on the eastern side of the river. They were perfectly tame
and gentle, and much attached to their foster-parents, the man and
woman of the house, whom they followed wherever they went. They
fed with equal willingness on shrimps and fish, and when neither
could be had, contented themselves with boiled Indian corn, of which
they caught with great ease the grains as they were thrown one by
one to them. I was afterwards informed, that when a year old, they
were allowed to go to the river and fish for themselves, or to the
ponds on either side, and that they regularly returned towards night
for the purpose of roosting on the top of the house. Both birds were
males, and in time they fought hard battles, but at last each met with
a female, which it enticed to the roost on the house-top, where all the
four slept at night for a while. Soon after, the females having
probably laid their eggs in the woods, they all disappeared, and were
never again seen by the persons who related this curious affair.
The Anhinga is shy and wary when residing in a densely peopled
part of the country, which, however, is rarely the case, as I have
already mentioned; but when in its favourite secluded and peaceful
haunts, where it has seldom or never been molested, it is easily
approached and without difficulty procured; nay, sometimes one will
remain standing in the same spot and in the same posture, until you
have fired several bullets from your rifle at it. Its mode of fishing is
not to plunge from a tree or stump in pursuit of its prey, but to dive
while swimming in the manner of Cormorants and many other birds.
Indeed, it could very seldom see a fish from above the surface of the
turbid waters which it prefers.
It moves along the branches of trees rather awkwardly; but still it
walks there, with the aid of its wings, which it extends for that
purpose, and not unfrequently also using its bill in the manner of a
Parrot. On the land, it walks and even runs with considerable ease,
certainly with more expertness than the Cormorant, though much in
the same style. But it does not employ its tail to aid it, for, on the
contrary, it carries that organ inclined upwards, and during its
progress from one place to another, the movements of its head and
neck are continued. These movements, which, as I have said,
resemble sudden jerkings of the parts to their full extent, become
extremely graceful during the love season, when they are reduced to
gentle curvatures. I must not forget to say, that during all these
movements, the gular pouch is distended, and the bird emits rough
guttural sounds. If they are courting on wing, however, in the manner
of Cormorants, Hawks, and many other birds, they emit a whistling
note, somewhat resembling that of some of our rapacious birds, and
which may be expressed by the syllables eek, eek, eek, the first
loudest, and the rest diminishing in strength. When they are on the
water, their call-notes so much resemble the rough grunting cries the
Florida Cormorant, that I have often mistaken them for the latter.
The flight of the Anhinga is swift, and at times well sustained; but like
the Cormorants, it has the habit of spreading its wings and tail before
it leaves its perch or the surface of the water, thus frequently
affording the sportsman a good opportunity of shooting it. When
once on wing, they can rise to a vast height, in beautiful gyrations,
varied during the love-season by zigzag lines chiefly performed by
the male, as he plays around his beloved. At times they quite
disappear from the gaze, lost as it were, in the upper regions of the
air; and at other times, when much lower, seem to remain
suspended in the same spot for several seconds. All this while, and
indeed as long as they are flying, their wings are directly extended,
their neck stretched to its full length, their tail more or less spread
according to the movements to be performed, being closed when
they descend, expanded and declined to either side when they
mount. During their migratory expeditions, they beat their wings at
times in the manner of the Cormorant, and at other times sail like the
Turkey Buzzard and some Hawks, the former mode being more
frequently observed when they are passing over an extent of
woodland, the latter when over a sheet of water. If disturbed or
alarmed, they fly with continuous beats of the wings, and proceed
with great velocity. As they find difficulty in leaving their perch without
previously expanding their wings, they are also, when about to alight,
obliged to use them in supporting their body, until their feet have
taken a sufficient hold of the branch on which they desire to settle. In
this respect, they exactly resemble the Florida Cormorant.
There are facts connected with the habits of birds which might afford
a pretty good idea of the relative temperatures of different parts of
the country during a given season; and those observed with regard
to the Anhinga seem to me peculiarly illustrative of this
circumstance. I have found the “Grecian Lady” breeding on St John’s
River in East Florida, near Lake George, as early as the 23d of
February; having previously seen many of them caressing each
other on the waters, and again carrying sticks, fresh twigs, and other
matters, to form their nests, and having also shot females with the
eggs largely developed. Now, at the same period, perhaps not a
single Anhinga is to be seen in the neighbourhood of Natchez, only a
few about New Orleans, in the eastern parts of Georgia, and the
middle maritime portions of South Carolina. In Louisiana this bird
breeds in April or May, and in South Carolina rarely before June, my