THE SECRETARY VULTURE 2025 



alluded to in Leviticus under the name of Geier eagle. On account of its value as 

 a scavenger, it is still protected in Egypt, as it is in some other parts of Africa. 

 In the Nile valley its usual breeding places are the tall mud cliffs bordering the 

 river. 



A very different-looking bird to the foregoing is the African pileated 



vulture (N. pileatus}. in which the general color of the plumage is 

 Vulture 



chocolate brown, with the quills and tail black; the naked portion of 



the head and neck being of a purple hue during life. In the typical South-African 

 form the total length of the bird is some twenty-six inches, but in Northeastern and 

 Western Africa there is a rather smaller race, with a relatively-longer and more 

 slender beak, which has been regarded as indicating a distinct species. Compared 

 with the Egyptian vulture, Mr. Blanford observes that the present species is " far 

 more vulturine both in its flight and food. Numbers usually collect around a car- 

 cass, which is very rarely, if ever, the case with N. percnopterus. The difference 

 is best shown in the fact that both Europeans and Eastern people frequently speak 

 of N. percnopterus as a kite, while no one could ever consider N. pileatus as any- 

 thing else than a vulture." The species is very common on the shores of Annesley 

 bay, but is less numerous in the Abyssinian highlands. 



THE SECRETARY VULTURE 

 Family SERPENTARIIDJE 



The well-known, but nevertheless very remarkable African bird (Serpentarius 

 secretarius) , represented in the figure on p. 2026, differs so widely from all 

 other Accipitrines in external appearance that an ordinary observer might have 

 considerable hesitation in referring it to the same order. Doubts have, indeed, 

 been entertained by some ornithologists as to its right to be included in the 

 Accipitrines; but it appears, on the whole, to be allied to the vultures, next to which 

 it is placed, as the representative of a distinct family. Needless to say, the secretary 

 derives its name from the crest of long plumes rising from the back of its head, 

 which have suggested a fanciful resemblance to a man with a bunch of quill feathers 

 stuck behind his ear. Structurally, the secretary vulture differs from all other 

 members of the order by the great elongation of the tibia and metatarsus, which 

 give it somewhat of the appearance of a crane with an eagle's beak; and it is also 

 distinguished from the members of the two foregoing families by having basiptery- 

 goid processes on the rostrum of the skull, and its tufted oil gland. It resembles 

 both groups, however, in having the two nostrils separated by a median partition, 

 and by the presence of a syrinx, or organ of voice, at the lower part of its windpipe. 

 Its short-toed feet resemble those of the caracaras in having the three front toes 

 joined by short webs at their bases. 



In addition to the crest of plumes at the back of the head and its lanky limbs, 

 the secretary is characterized by the great prolongation of the two middle feathers 



