SCAVENGERS 135 



death-dealing power. Should he meet a serpent too 

 large for him to attack in this manner, he grabs it 

 in his beak and rises high in the air, from which 

 elevation he drops it upon rocks or a dead tree. As 

 it falls, he follows it with lightning-like rapidity to 

 the earth, where he attacks it while it is stunned. 



The secretaries make very friendly pets, and are 

 easily domesticated. Their natural habits are of 

 peculiar advantage, especially in regions where ser- 

 pents and frogs abound. The French established 

 the secretaries in their colonies in Guadaloupe and 

 Martinique. 



A cousin of the secretary-bird, and much smaller, 

 is the gymnogene, which flies lazily around, and 

 chases its reptile-prey on foot, when it has missed 

 it by swooping down from above. 



The jackdaw is the common scavenger of the 

 Philippine Islands. It not only feasts upon. 'the 

 rejected food of the streets but occasionally eats in- 

 sects and reptiles. An interesting cousin «of i;he 

 Philippine jackdaw is frequently seen in the pro- 

 vincial towns of England. It is a bird that loves 

 the high-towers for a home, and its high-pitched 

 voice seems suited to its dwelling. In London it 

 builds in only a few of the hundreds of churches. 

 It seems that the pigeons are fast occupying its old 

 headquarters. 



