THE SECRETARY AND SNAKES 61 



noted, and the method of attacking prey, which 

 the keepers at the Zoo will always display with the 

 aid of a dead rat tied to a string. It will be noted 

 that the bird strikes on the prey to kill it, and 

 does not grasp, using one foot at a time, and so 

 quickly that it gets in two or three blows where 

 a man could only give one ; in fact, I am told that 

 the bird will even kill blue-bottles in this way. 

 The wings are kept lifted meanwhile, no doubt in 

 readiness to spring back if the victim retaliates. 

 But in its conflicts with snakes, which have gained it 

 so much notoriety and the protection of our Govern- 

 ment in Africa, it is said to bring the wings into 

 action to beat the reptile down. Its prey, how- 

 ever, is not restricted to snakes, but includes any 

 sort of ground animal it can find and kill ; in fact, 

 Major J. Stevenson-Hamilton, the Game Warden of 

 the Transvaal, says in his fascinating book " Animal 

 Life in Africa," that it is neither more nor less of a 

 snake- eater than other large birds of prey, so that 

 we cannot regard its peculiar specialization as 

 being an adaptation to a reptilian diet. 



In fact, we may easily make mistakes in trying to 

 correlate structure and function, as may be realized 

 in considering the case of the Kea Parrot (Nestor 

 notabilis) of New Zealand. Notable, indeed, this 

 bird is, not to say notorious, but not in the way 

 its describer meant when he gave it its scientific 

 name. Every one knows now that it has undergone 

 one of the most remarkable changes of habit ever 

 recorded of any animal. Formerly a feeder on 



