A CAPE CART JOURNEY. 29 



{Sagittarius serpentarius) — Le mangeur de serpents of 

 Le Vaillant, the slang vreeter (snake-eater) of the 

 Dutch — long puzzled the most learned of bird 

 classifiers, but is now usually included, whether 

 rightly or wrongly, amongst the Falconidce. 



Most people, howsoever little learned in orni- 

 thology, know the secretary bird, and it is hardly 

 necessary to indicate at length its peculiar charac- 

 teristics. It was anciently much cherished by the 

 Boers, who retained it in a semi-domesticated state 

 for the protection of their poultry-yards from snakes 

 and other ve;rmin. At the present time, however, 

 it is only to be seen in its wild condition. At a 

 distance the bird looks of a bluish-gray colour, but 

 a closer inspection shows that the thighs, the longer 

 quills, part of the tail feathers, and most of the 

 crest are black. The crest consists of ten feathers, 

 and it is from this curious and distinctive feature, 

 and its fancied resemblance to a secretary's pen or 

 quill — stuck behind the ear — that the bird's name 

 was bestowed upon it. The secretary nests usually 

 in the thickest parts of the thorny mimosa, and the 

 eggs, invariably, as I am told, two in number, are 

 of a dirty white, lightly blotched with reddish-brown, 

 which becomes more thickly distributed at the 

 obtuse end. I was shown an egg later in our 

 travels, and only wish I could have secured it. 

 Perhaps the nearest approach to the secretary bird 

 is to be found in Jardines harrier {Circus Jardinii), 

 a denizen of the grassy plains that lie between 

 certain of the mountain ranges of Australia. This 

 bird, like its South African prototype, does not 

 perch upon trees, and as a rule feeds upon small 

 snakes and frogs, in search of which it quarters 



