Sof/ie Notes on the Secretary Bird. 109


Part II.


By W. H. St. Quintin.


Major Horsbrugh has asked me to add some notes upon

“The Secretary Bird in Captivity,” as an addition to his interest¬

ing and amusing account of the bird, as seen in his African

home.


I have kept these birds for about four years, and the first

thing that struck me about them was their amazing appetites!

I have long been accustomed to keep raptorial birds large and

small ; and, as a rule, one may say that the larger the bird the

less frequent (imitating natural conditions) should be his meals,

though of course the meals, when given, must be full ones.

In one of our best private collections, where Eagles and Vultures

live for years and are ill the pink of condition, these birds are fed

on four days in the week, but as much as they like each time.

On the other hand, the smaller Falcons, Hawks and Owls must

be fed night and morning. But the Secretary Bird I soon found,

big as he is, does not look his best unless he has a good meal

twice a day, and pretty much what he can stow away each time,

including fur, feather and bone.


In a roomy enclosure, which can hardly be too big, he

takes an immense amount of exercise, striding up and down,

always on the look out for a mouse or other small quarry. Even

a Blue-bottle fly is not too insignificant for him, while a butterfly

causes great excitement, and is pursued across the enclosure,

stroke after stroke (of the foot) being aimed at the insect, which

is often knocked down and instantly devoured.


If more than one are kept together, they will at times race

about in graceful play, which is apt to degenerate into a squabble

at any moment, for their tempers are exceedingly short. When

in a hurry, they spread their wings wide and hold them at such

an angle that, when they stride against the wind, they are lifted

off the ground at the end of their run, and suggest the action of

an aeroplane, the motor being represented by the bird’s legs

which, of course, are working energetically.


I pinioned my birds reluctantly, but I had no alternative,

for the} 7 are light and active, and a ten-foot netting fence is not

enough to stop them, unless the wing is shortened sufficiently;



