206 SERPENTAKII. 



It is probably only a summer visitor to Japan and China, wintering 

 in the islands of the Malay Archipelago and in the Burma penin- 

 sula. It is very common on migration in October and November in 

 Central Hondo (Jouy, Proc. United States Nat. Mus. 1883, p. 312). 



Suborder XVII. SEBPENTAEII. 



The Secretary Bird may be diagnosed as follows : — 



Palate desmognathous ; basipterygoid processes present ; spinal 



feather- tract well defined on the neck ; deep plantar tendons galline j 



oil-gland tufted. 



This suborder contains only one species, which is only found in 



the Ethiopian Region. 



