CRESTS OR TOP-KNOTS 



357 



gait which resembles a bowman advancing to shoot, but 

 this name has l)een corrupted into Sccretarius. How- 

 ever Secretary Bird is a name wliich suits, and the 

 scientific name Serjjciitariiis reptUivoras describes its 

 habits, for it eats reptiles and snakes, and living in a 

 country where venomous snakes aljouud, it is protected. 

 I am not likely to forget the pleasure with which I 



The Tutted Umbre, or Hamnierhead (Scopus umhretta). ^ When 

 this biril erects its crest, it looks very weird, and justifies the 

 natives in suspecting it of witchcraft. 



watched one of these remarkable birds on the margin of 

 a blackened area left l)y a grass fire looking after things 

 it could devour. When engaged in killiug dangerous 

 prey by stamping on them with its powerful feet, the 

 wings spread, liead lield high and feathery tuft erect, it 

 appears a foi'midabh; bird, for it stands four feet high. 

 This ])ird has a good appetite and likes variety in^fnod. 

 In the stomach of a secretary bird shot near Cape Town 



