8 BIRDS OF SOUTH AFRICA. 
Fam. FALCONIDZ. 
Sub-fam. POLYBORINZ. 
7. SERPENTARIUS SECRETARIUS. Secretary Bird. 
Serpentarius reptilivorus, Layard, B. 8. Afr. p. 33 (1867). 
This bird is widely distributed all over South Africa, and is met 
with throughout the Cape Colony. Victorin found it from March to 
September at the Knysna. Mr. Rickard informs us that it is found 
both near Port Elizabeth and East London. Mr. Ayres has met 
with it in Natal, where, however, he says it is rare near D’Urban ; 
and more recently he has procured it in the Transvaal territory. 
Mr. T. E. Buckley observes :—“ I only met with this bird on two or 
three occasions in the Transvaal, and I saw one pair on the Lim- 
popo.” Respecting its distribution in the Zambesi country Dr. Kirk 
writes as follows —“ Not observed on the lower Zambesi, nor in the 
vicinity of the Nyassa. One specimen alone was seen on the plain 
between the Zambesi and Batoka hills, about the confluence of the 
Kafne. By the natives it is respected from the nature of its food, 
and from its killing snakes.” 
The late Mr. Andersson records the Secretary Bird as “found 
sparingly in Great Namaqua and Damara Land, and on the plains of 
Ondonga in the Ovampo Country ; it also occurs about Lake Ngami.” 
It has recently been procured still further to the northward on the 
west coast, for the Lisbon Museum has received two examples, one 
from Huilla in the Mossamedes district, collected by Sehor Anchieta, 
and another from Benguela procured by Seftor Freitas Branco. 
When a pair establish themselves in any locality, they speedily 
drive out all others of the same kind, and will breed in the same nest 
for along period. The latter is a huge structure, added to yearly, 
placed sometimes in a low bush, sometimes in a thick thorny mimosa. 
We are told they never lay more than two eggs, which are of a dirty 
dull white, profusely dotted with light, brownish-red blotches at the 
obtuse end, and sparsely over the whole shell: axis, 3” 1”; 
diam., 2” 4’”. The young utter a guttural, rattling cry, precisely 
resembling the call of the Stanley Crane. They are a long while ere 
they can walk,.as their legs seem unable to support the weight of 
their bodies, and snap with the least exertion. One which we were 
