1 42 FALCONIFORMES 



brought alive to England.' The appellation is evidently, how- 

 ever, derived from the nuchal tuft, which bears a fancied resem- 

 blance to the pen of a clerk stuck above his ear. Standing some 

 four feet high on very long legs, this bird gives the impression of a 

 Heron or Crane, and is a striking object on its native plains. The 

 short strong Ijeak is greatly arched, and is not toothed, the neck 

 is elongated, the body comparatively small, and the metatarsus 

 boldly scutellated aU round, the short straight toes with their 

 blunt claws being joined anteriorly by small membranes. The 

 ample wings have eleven pointed primaries and seventeen second- 

 aries ; the graduated tail of twelve rectrices has the two obtuse 

 median feathers drooping and much prolonged. Down is evenly 

 distributed over the adults, and an aftershaft is present. The 

 general colour is bluish-grey, with black wing-qiiills, lower back 

 and vent ; the loose pendent crest on the occiput and nape con- 

 tains ten plumes in pairs, the longer being Ijlack and the shorter 

 grey with black ends ; the tail is grey, sub terminally barred with 

 black and tipped with white, which sometimes shews on the short 

 close Hank-feathers. The long cere, naked sides of the face, a.nd 

 feet are yellow, the irides hazel. The sexes are similar. 



In South Africa these iiseful birds — favoured by a protecting 

 law — are often brought up tame about the homesteads, where 

 they kill reptiles and keep off feathered intruders, though they 

 occasionally tax the poultry -yard themselves ; the food consists 

 of small mammals, birds, lizards, and tortoises, but above all of 

 snakes and insects. When the Secretary attacks a reptile, it 

 advances on foot and delivers a forward kick with its powerful 

 leg, striking simultaneously with the knobbed wings, which shield 

 its body ; then it retreats with a bound, as the hissing snake makes 

 a vicious lunge ; but soon, watching its opportunity, breaks through 

 its opponent's guard and stands triumphant with crest erect, before 

 swallowing the disabled foe.^ If, however, the snake touches the 

 bird's flesh, the result is reversed ; and so well, according to Mr. 

 Atmore,^ does the latter know this, that it plucks out instantly any 

 feather that the fangs have reached. Possibly reptiles are occa- 

 sionally killed by being carried aloft and dropped. Usually seen 

 stalking easily along, this graceful species can almost out-pace a 



■' Cf. A. Newton, Diet. Birds, 1894, iip. 822, 823 

 ^ This is abbreviated from the account by J. Verreaux, P.Z.S. 1856, pp. 348-352. 

 ^ Layard, ed. Sharpe, Birds of South Africa, 1875-1884, p. 9. 



