SECRETARY. 39 



The bill is black, sharp, and crooked, as in the eagle, somewhat 

 compressed towards the point ; the gape very wide ; cere white ; 

 roiuid the eyes bare and orange coloured; irides pale grey; the 

 upper eyelids beset with strong bristles, like eyelashes ; head, neck, 

 breast, and upper parts of the body bluish ash colour ; bastard wing, 

 quills, vent, and thighs black, the last speckled with white, in some 

 plain— at the bend of the wing one or more roundish knobs ; the five 

 first quills longer than the rest ; tail cuneifonn, but the two middle 

 feathers are double the length of the others, in colour much like that 

 of the body, but darker; the ends of all the feathers, for above an 

 inch, black, but the very tips are white ; under parts of the body 

 tlusky white, but on the belly the white has a mixture of dusky ; 

 legs very long, stouter than those of the heron, yellowish brown, and 

 feathered below the joint.* From the hind-head springs a kind of 

 elongated tuft, composed of ten feathers, growing broader towards 

 the ends, arising in pairs of diHerent lengths, and of a dusky bluish 

 colour. These are in general pendent on the hind part of the neck, 

 but can be erected so as to form a beautiful crest, at the will of the 

 bird. 



llie female is paler in colour, and the feathers of the crest, as 

 well as the two middle tail feathers, shorter than in the male, and in 

 young birds the two middle feathers are little, if at all elongated. 



This most singular and elegant bird inhabits the internal parts of 

 the Cape of Good Hope, as well as other parts of Africa, and is also 

 met with in the Philippine Islands; is called at the Cape Slangeater, 

 Snake-eater, from its address in destroying those reptiles. Dr. Sparr- 

 man mentions that at first it opposes one wing, and then the other, to 

 avoid the bite of the snake, as well as to bruise it; and soon after spur- 

 ning and treading upon it, fi-equently tossing it with its pinions into 

 the air; after which the adversary being wearied out, the bird is en- 

 abled to kill and eat it without damage. It feeds also on rats and 



* M. Sonnerat says this bird is naked above the knee joint, which is uot the case. 



