ZOOLOGICAL 
resemblance to a quill pen stuck over the ear of 
a clerk. Vosmaer, however, who first described 
the species in 1769, states that the bird was 
known at the Cape of Good Hope as the Sagit- 
tarius or Archer, from its long strides. Sagit- 
tarius is said (but the idea seems far-fetched) to 
have become corrupted to Secretarius; hence 
the origin of the very appropriate name perhaps 
may be traced to accident, after all. 
The zoological status of the Secretary Bird 
has occasioned a great deal of controversy. By 
various authors it has been placed in various 
groups, from spoonbills to bustards. Many 
modern authorities, however, admit its affinities 
with the accipitrine birds, and place it in a sep- 
arate sub-order of that group. While the Sec- 
retary, at first glance, seems to be simply a 
long-legged hawk, very much specialized for 
ground hunting, the fact that a fossil form of 
the same genus is known from the Miocene of 
France, suggests the possibility of the truth of 
the theory advanced by Newton, that the modern 
bird has descended, little changed, from the an- 
cient ancestors, not only of present-day hawks, 
but even of herons, storks and others. 
The peculiar degree of parallel development 
found in the Secretary Bird and the seriemas. 
(particularly Cariama cristata), is too marked 
Both are aberrant forms of 
well-marked families (the seriemas being com- 
to escape notice. 
THE FIRST BLOW. 
The right foot is slightly raised for the strike. 
SOCIETY 
BULLETIN. 685 
FIRST STROKE OF THE BEAK. 
The reptile is seized and dropped so quickly as to barely leave 
the ground. 
monly referred to the cranes) differing radical- 
ly from the types, and yet approaching each 
Not the least 
interesting of these resemblances is the sharp- 
ened, raised condition of the inner talon of 
foot, which is found both in the Secre- 
tary Bird and in the seriemas, not only in the 
crested, as first made known by C. William 
Beebe, but in the Burmeister as well. In each 
other in a most singular manner. 
each 
case, this specialized nail assists in holding the 
prey during the process of tearing it with the 
bill. 
The hunting and feeding habits of Serpen- 
tarius are unusual. ‘The killing is not done with 
the beak, but with the feet. 
long, sinewy leg-muscles is surprising. 
The power in the 
The bird 
strikes a hammer-like, maiming blow, by rais- 
ing the tarsus to a position at right angles to 
the thigh, and bringing it down with great ve- 
locity. In striking, both feet are used, neither 
being given preference, although alternation is 
not perfect. The talons are drawn together 
when the blow is started, straightened out while 
in the air, and brought together slightly at the 
instant of impact with the body of the victim, 
so that the latter receives not only the force of 
the blow, but the piercing of the sharp nails. 
Whenever possible, the food is swallowed entire, 
fur, scales and all; but if the animal should be 
too large, it is eaten piecemeal, the fur, if pres- 
