tlie African continent its range is much more extensive, it 

 being found in the colonies of the Cape of Good Hope and of 

 Natal, in Zanzibar, Abyssinia, Kordofan, Nubia, and in Upper 

 Egypt as 'far north as the ruins of Thebes, where it was 

 observed by that enterprising traveller, the late Dr. Alfred 

 Brehm. It should, however, here be stated that the Secre- 

 taries found north of the Equator are somewhat smaller and 

 paler in their colouring than those obtained in more southern 

 loeaUties. This northern race, however, differs so slightly 

 from the southern form that it can scarcely be considered as a 

 distinct species, though it has been so described by some 

 naturalists, and the synonyms of Serpentarius Gambiensis 

 (Ogilby), and Serpentarius Orientalis (Verreaux), have been 

 both eonfen-ed on it as specific names. The Secretary is a 

 remarkably voracious feeder. Le Vadlant mentions that from 

 the stomach of one that he shot, he took three serpents as 

 long as his arm and an inch in thickness, eleven lizards of seven 

 or eight inches in length, and twenty-one small tortoises of about 

 two inches in diameter, besides a large quantity of grass- 

 hoppers or locusts, and other insects. The Secretary also feeds 

 on rats and moles, and domesticated specimens (which are 

 said not to be unfi'equent in the yards of South African 

 colonists) have been observed to devour young fowls, A dead 

 quail is mentioned by Mr. Gordon Gumming as having been 

 found by him in a Secretary's nest ; and Mr. Ayres, of Natal, 

 informs me that he took from the stomach of a Secretary 

 " an adult yellow-breasted lark.'' In the colony of the Cape 

 of Good Hope the Secretary is protected in consequence of its 

 utility in extirpating noxious reptiles, as it habitually destroys 

 and devom-s serpents of the most venomous character, and, it 

 is said, of as much as six feet in length. The nest of this 

 species is generally flat, and of about three feet in diameter, 

 formed of sticks intermixed with earth, and lined with wool 

 and feathers; the nest is permanent, but a fresh lining is added 

 every year above the previous one ; it is placed on the top of 



