on the Secretary Bird.



335



valley, carrying a snake in its beak. Although somewhat amateurish

in execution, the truthfulness of the picture is self-evident, and gives

a most interesting glimpse of bird life. It is a drawing which gives

a more realistic conception of wild creatures at home than many

lines of letterpress.


The Secretary Bird differs widely from most of the species

known to aviculture; for these are often rare and delicate, whereas

the Secretary has been easily kept in captivity, time after time, ever

since there lias existed any study which by tbe widest interpretation

could be called aviculture. Even in tbe prehistoric days of the

Dutch rule at the Cape the “ Sagittarius ” was well known, for it

occurred everywhere, even in the extreme south, and its striding

walk, as it paced the Hats, caused it to be likened to an archer

marching to attack. The earliest living example in Europe was a

bird sent to Holland by Heer Hemmy, a member of the Board of

Justice at the Cape. It was a present to the Prince of Orange, who

placed it in his menagerie—at that time almost the finest (if not the

finest) zoological collection in existence. The menagerie was in¬

stalled at the Hague, and was described by Arnaut Vosmaer in a

quarto work, entitled ‘ Regnum Animale ’—a lengthy production in

thirty-one parts, which took several years to publish. He also

published in 17G9 a special notice of the new bird, “ Bescbryving van

eenen Africanschen Roofvogel.” Thus was tbe Secretary Bird intro¬

duced to European aviculture, under the direct patronage of royalty

and the learned benediction of science.


The first examples seen in England were a pair owned by

Mr. Raymond, of Ilford—at least a pair were originally sent home—

one bird died, possibly before it reached Mr. Raymond. The survivor

was seen by George Edwards, who described it in the ‘ Philosophical

Transactions’ for 1771. Further importations followed; thus, in

1780, Buffon remarked that the Secretary was to be seen in “ some

English menageries,” and a year later it was figured by Latham

from three which he had seen alive in England. These early impor¬

tations reflect the greatest credit on all concerned—undertaken, and

successfully undertaken, in the days when the voyage from the Cape

was of an utterly wearisome length, and when aviculture was in its

early infancy.



