THE SECRETARY BIRD. 211 
and white, the plumage of the legs being of a bright 
black, intermingled with scarcely perceptible brownish 
rays. The plumes of the crest which ornaments the 
back of the head, and from the supposed resemblance 
of which to the pens frequently stuck behind the ears of 
clerks and other writers the name of Secretary was given 
to the bird, are destitute of barbs at the base, but spread 
out as they advance, and are coloured with a mixture of 
black and gray. Each of the wings is armed with three 
rounded bony projections, with which, as well as with 
his feet, the bird attacks and destroys his prey. 
In his habits he partly resembles both the Eagle and 
the Vulture, but differs from them most completely in 
the nature of his prey and in his mode of attacking it. 
Like the former he always prefers live flesh to carrion ; 
but the food to which he is most particularly attached 
consists of snakes and other reptiles, for the destruction 
of which he is admirably fitted by his organization. The 
length of his legs not only enables him to pursue these 
creatures over the sandy deserts which he inhabits with 
a speed proportioned to their own, but also places his 
more vulnerable parts in some measure above the risk of 
their venomous bite; and the imperfect character of his 
talons, when compared with those of other rapacious 
birds, is in complete accordance with the fact that his 
feet are destined rather to inflict powerful blows, than to 
seize and carry off his prey. When he falls upon a 
serpent, he first attacks it with the bony prominences of 
his wings, with one of which he belabours it, while he 
guards his body by the expansion of the other. He 
then seizes it by the tail and mounts with it to a consi- 
derable height in the air, from which he drops it to the 
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