6 . RAPTORIAL BIRDS 
of their talons, and which is usually subdivided in this 
manner before it is swallowed. Most birds of prey, 
except the Owls, seek their food by day, and we have 
first to consider these diurnal Raptores, and subse- 
quently to examine the nocturnal Raptores or Owls. 
In the arrangement which has been adopted in the 
Norwich Museum, the series of diurnal birds of prey 
commences with the African Secretary Bird, the only 
species of the genus Serpentarius, which being one of 
the most abnormal birds ofthe group, seems naturally 
to occupy a post upon its outskirts. 
The Secretary Bird (so-called because the long 
feathers at the back of its head have been thought to 
bear a fanciful resemblance to a pen fixed behind the 
ear of an amanuensis,) is the longest legged of all the 
birds of prey ; and unlike most birds of the Raptorial 
order, is much addicted to running, which it seems to 
prefer to having recourse to flight; it in this manner 
courses over the sandy deserts of tropical and South- 
ern Africa, chiefly feeding on the reptiles which are 
peculiar to those scorching sands, including many 
poisonous snakes, which the Secretary attacks without 
hesitation, and generally with impunity, stunning its 
prey with powerful blows of its foot, while it spreads 
its wing before it as a shield to defend its body from 
the serpent’s bite. 
Allied to the Secretary, but of smaller dimensions, 
is another African bird, (of which a second species 
inhabits the Island of Madagascar,) called the Gymno- 
