THE LONG-LEGGED HAWKS. 267 



and the enraged Snake draws itself up and expands, at the same time, the skiu of its ueck, as is the way 

 with the more dangerous Serpents, the bird is forced to retreat, and takes a spring backwards, waiting 

 to seize a favourable moment for recommencing the attack. Raising itself, the furious reptile moves its 

 tongue with the quickness of lightning, and gives forth the most vehement hisses, which keep back the 

 enemy and seem to force some respect from it : but the bird, whose courage redoubles in the same 

 ratio that the difficulties increase, opens out its wings, and, returning to the charge, assails the reptile 

 afresh with blows from its terrible feet, such as no one would believe, and which are not long in 

 putting the Snake /tors fie combat. We have, however, sometimes seen the Snakes launch themselves 

 on the Secretary, but, either by opening its wings, whose long primaries serve it as a kind of shield, 

 or by jumping backwards or on one side, the bird is certain to parry the attack of its antagonist, who 

 at last, overcome by fatigue, falls at full length on the ground. The moment is seized by the Secretary 

 to redouble its massive blows, which, by dislocating the vertebral column, soon cause the reptile to 

 give iip the ghost. It is then that the victorious Hawk darts like an arrow, and placing its foot on 

 the Serpent's neck, just at the back of the head, commences to swallow it, which it does by beginning 

 at the tail first. Nor is this a long operation, even with reptiles five or six feet in length and more than 

 four inches in diameter ; and as soon as it arrives at the head it completely smashes the skull by several 

 blows of its bill before swallowing it." 



"Both sexes work at the construction of the nest, whicli is always placed on the summit of a high 

 dense bush, more often a mimosa. It is added to each year, and it is easy to see the age of a nest by 

 the number of fresh layers which have been added year by year. The young birds remain for six 

 months before leaving the nest, their legs not being strong enough to support the weight of the body. 

 During the whole of this time they are fed with great assiduity by both parents." 



The Secretary Bird stands more than four feet high, when fully grown. The general colour of the 

 plumage is grey, with black quills ; the lower back and rump are black, the upper tail-coverts white ; 

 the tail is grey, tipped with white, and crossed with two black bands; below, the colour is ashy-white, 

 the thighs and abdomen black. From the hinder part of the crown and occiput springs an elegant 

 crest of phimes, which the bird can raise or depress at will ; they are either entirely black, or grey 

 with a black tip. It is from these long plumes that the bird has got the name of the Secretary, from 

 some fancied resemblance in the bird's head to the quills which a secretary places behind his ear. 



In America, the Secretary is represented by the Cariama (Qariama cristata), a bird which 

 looks so like a game bird that, as we have said, many ornithologists place both it and the 

 Secretary among the Gallinaceous birds, and not among the Hawks. From a consideration 

 of its anatomy, however, both Professor Parker and Professor Sundevall determined that the 

 Cariama is an accipitrine bird, though of a very aberrant form. Those who differ from them admit 

 that where the Secretary is placed in the natural system the Cariama must also be located, and no one 

 who has studied the habits of the former, either in a wild state or in captivity, can doubt for a 

 moment that it is a veritable bird of prey, and so it follows that the Bustard- like Cariama must 

 also be included in the same order. 



CHAPTER IV. 



THE LONG-LEGGED HAWKS AND BUZZARDS. 



THE BANDED GYMNOGENE Habits Its Movable Tarsi THE HARRIERS Distinctive Features THE MARSH HARRIER 

 Habits Its Thievish Propensities THE HARRIER-HAWKS Colonel Greyson's Account of their Habits THE CHANTING 

 GOSHAWKS Why so Called Habits THE TRUE GOSHAWKS Distinctive Characters THE GOSHAWK Distribution 

 In Pursuit of its Prey Appearance THE SPARROW-HAWKS Distinctive Characters THE COMMON SPARROW-HAWK 

 Habits Appearance THE BUZZARDS Their Tarsus THE COMMON BUZZARD Where Found How it might be turned 

 to Account Food Its Migrations Habits Appearance THE HARPY. 



THE SECOND SUB-FAMILY OF THE FALCONIDvE. THE LONG-LEGGED HAWKS (Accipitrina). 

 ALL the Hawks included under this heading are remarkable for their long legs, in which the tibial 

 bone and the tarsus are about equal in length. In all the other Hawks, Eagles, Kites, Buzzards, and 

 Falcons, the tibia is always longer than the tarsus. 



