‘i 
Si) 
; 
Falk 
VAN 
Hiv ats) 
Hy 
LW / 
THE SECRETARY BIRD. 
GYPOGERANUS SERPENTARIUS. I 1G. 
Tue singular conformation of this bird, so different in 
many respects from that of the Order to which both in 
its leading characters and in its habits it obviously 
belongs, rendered it for a long time one of the torments 
of ornithologists, who puzzled themselves in vain to 
assign it a definitive place in the system, and could not 
agree even with regard to the grand division of the class 
to which it ought to be referred. Thus M. Temminck 
was at one time inclined to refer it to the Gallinaceous 
Order; and M. Vieillot, after repeatedly changing his 
mind upon the subject, at last arranged it among the 
Waders, with which it has absolutely nothing in common 
Pp 
