64 



cassell's book of birds. 



to us these fanciful appellations are quite unintelligible, nor has any Eastern tale wc have ever read 

 thrown a light upon their origin ; nevertheless our unpoetical imagination at once recognises the 

 appropriateness of its nickname of the " Secretary," as the crest upon its head when laid back looks 

 most comically like the pen stuck behind the ear of some scrivener's clerk. 



The VULTURES ( Vulturidce) are the largest of all the many varieties of Birds of Prey, some 

 of the smaller members of this family being comparable in size with the largest Eagles. The body of 



the secretary or crane vulture {Gyfogeranus serpentarius). 



the Vultures is short, broad-breasted, and very powerfully framed ; the neck is long, and often quite 

 bare ; the head sometimes large, sometimes small ; the beak is high and straight, except at its tip, 

 which terminates in a hook ; its margins are sharp, and the upper half, or in some species one-third of 

 the entire length is covered by a large cere; a slight outward bulging of the edge of the upper 

 mandible is sometimes perceptible, but an actual tooth-like appendage is never met with amongst 

 these birds. Some species possess a comb-like growth of skin above the beak. The wings are very 



