SEC RET A R Y BIRDS BIRDS OF PRE K 



305 



Th e Secretary 

 Birds. Sub-order 



Serpentarii. 



which are characteristic of the latter, especially in the proportions of the 

 skeleton. 



That these are Birds of Prey there can be little doubt, but they are 

 decidedly aberrant, and were separated from the rest of the Accipitres by 

 Professor Huxley. They have abnormally long legs, and 

 an equally abnormal tail, with the centre feathers much 

 elongated, while from behind the head rises the crest of 

 pointed feathers, from which the bird gets its name of 

 "Secretary," on account of some fancied resemblance to 

 a secretary, who is supposed to carry quill pens behind his ear. There are 

 other peculiar anatomical and osteological features which separate the 

 Secretary from the other Raptorial birds. 

 Several ornithologists, amongst them myself, 

 have perceived certain characteristics in the 

 Seriama (antea, p. 277) which suggest an affinity 

 with the Secretary ; and, if the Seriama is 

 admitted to be a kind of Crane, it is also 

 certain that it possesses certain Accipitrine 

 characters which are difficult to account for. 

 The external appearance of the two birds is not 

 unlike, and there is one very curious habit 

 which they possess in common, viz., the way in 

 which they attack their prey, by striking it with 

 rapid beats of their long legs, both of which are 

 brought down with terrific force, until the object 

 is beaten to a pulp. Another character which 

 those birds possess in common, is the fact that 

 both the outer and inner toe are connected by 

 a web, which is one of the features of the 

 Caracaraa, to which, in my opinion, the Secretary 

 is distantly related. 



Serpentarius is an African genus, and the single species is therefore strictly 

 Ethiopian, but in ancient times the Secretary lived in Central Europe, aa 

 its remains, like those of the African Touracous, have been found in France. 

 The Secretary is a pugnacious bird, so that frequently serious fights take 

 place between two males for the possession of a female, and the bony knob 

 which they carry on the carpal joint of the wing is doubtless an offensive 

 weapon. When attacking a Cobra, the Secretary defends itself by holding 

 its wing in front of it as a shield, and strikes the snake down by vigorous 

 blows of its feet. On account of its usefulness in destroying venomous 

 snakes it is protected in all parts of Africa, and as many as three large 

 snakes have been tiken from the stomach of one of these birds, besides 

 lizards and tortoises, and a quantity of grasshoppers and other insects ; 

 while it will frequently kill a large snake by carrying it high in the air and 

 dropping it to the ground. The eggs are two, rarely three, in number, and 

 white. 



These are the true Haptorial or Accipitrine Birds of 

 authors. They may be divided into two great families, 

 the Vultures (Vulturidce) and the Hawks (Falconidce) . 

 The Vultures are mostly carrion-eaters, and are found 

 in the tropical portions of the Old World, the so-called 

 "Vultures" of the New World having been already separated off aa the 



Fig. 60. THE SECRETARY BIRD 

 (Serpentarius secretrius). 



The Birds of 

 Prey. Sub-order 



