THE SECRETARY BIRD. 271 



some long reeds near the Umganie, and they said it was 

 an enormous animal, and fully fifty feet long. I once saw 

 its spoor on the sand, and judged that it must be nearly 

 thirty feet long. On several occasions I sought interviews 

 with it, but was unsuccessful in finding it at home. It is 

 always better to give all snakes a wide berth, and not to 

 go out of one's way to destroy them, unless they have 

 taken up their residence in or near your house, or their 

 destruction can be accomplished with ease and safety. 



Many snakes of South Africa are not poisonous : a 

 very good plan for telling them is to notice the shape of 

 their head; anything approaching the form of the ace 

 of clubs, or a breadth across the forehead as it were, is 

 indicative of venom ; while those with the narrow lizard- 

 like heads are harmless. 



The secretary bird is one of the greatest destroyers of 

 snakes, and either is proof against their bites or is too 

 active to be bitten. He seizes them generally by the neck, 

 and goes sailing aloft with a long reptile w r riggling about 

 in agonies. If the bird finds the snake troublesome 

 during his aerial voyage, he lets it fall a few thousand 

 feet on to the hardest ground, and then quickly following 

 after, takes the snake on another trip. A fine in money 

 is very properly imposed in the Cape colony on the 

 destroyer of one of these birds. 



