FALCONID^:. 33 



48. Serpentarius Reptilivorus. (Baud) Gy- 



$ (f pogeranus Capensis ; Falco Serpentarius, Gmel. ; 

 Vultur Serpentarius, Lath., PI. 2. ; Ophiotheris Gris- 

 tatus, VieilL, Gal. PI. 260 ; Le Mangeur de Serpents, 

 Le Vail., PI. 25 ; Secretary Bird ; Slangvreter of 

 Colonists. 



HEAD, neck, breast, and mantle greyish-blue, slightly shaded 

 with reddish-brown on the wing-coverts. Larger quills 

 black. Throat white, under part of tail white, tinged with 

 russet. Thighs black, tinted brown. Tail-feathers very 

 long, black at the base, then paling into grey, and tipped 

 with white; two long central tail-feathers bluish-grey, tip- 

 ped with black and white. Crest of ten feathers arranged in 

 pairs, the lesser ones at the top black and grey, the others 

 black. Legs very long, toes short, claws blunt. Length, 

 48" ; wing, 27" ; tail, 26". 



Widely distributed throughout the colony 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 a long period. The 

 nest is a huge structure, added to yearly, placed sometimes in a low 

 bush, sometimes in a thick thorny mimosa. I am 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 

 gutteral, 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 I was rearing for the Acclimatization Societies of 

 Melbourne and Sydney trod in a small wooden bowl sunk in the 

 ground, and instantly fell, breaking his leg* and wing. I spliced them 

 both, but he died in ten days. I am informed that the texture of the 

 nest is so loose, that the legs of the young hang through the interstices 

 until they acquire sufficient strength to be bent under them. 



Genus CIRCUS, Lace'pede. ( faj**V**J ] 



Bill moderate, elevated at the base of tie culmen, and 



.arched to the tip, which is hooked ; the sides compressed, 



and the lateral margins festooned ; the nostrils large, oval, 



and partly concealed by the curved hairs of the Ions. 



Wings long, with the third and fourth quills nearly equal 



and longest. Tail long and rounded on the sides. Tarsi 



long, slender, and compressed, the outer side covered with 



transverse scales, and the inner with small scales. Toes 



* All who have tried to rear these birds notice this brittleness in their bones. 

 I have, since the above was written, lost several more from similar causes. I luve 

 known them snap a leg if suddenly startled into a quick run! ! 



