AN AFRICAN WADER. 
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is as thin, says Livingstone, as a paper-knife ; and it is put into the 
water while the bird skims along the surface, and scoops up any little 
insects that come within his reach. That this process can be performed 
so as to yield a sufficient meal, and at dark too, — for it is then only 
that insects and fishes rise to the surface, — is one of the " curiosities 
of Nature." 
A pretty little wader, the avocet, with long legs, and bill bent 
upwards, wades in the shallow water and digs up insects, for which his 
bill is singularly well adapted. He ducks his head under the wave to 
seize his prey, raises it quickly, and makes a rapid gobbling, as if he 
were swallowing a wriggling worm. Then there is the Pacra Afri- 
cana, with thin long legs, and long slender toes, admirably fitted for 
running or walking swiftly over the plants that float on the surface of 
the rivers and pools. His fore toes are three inches and a quarter long, 
and his hind one two inches and a half. Hence, when he stands on a 
broad lotus leaf his toes cover the surface, and prevent him from 
sinking. His food consists of aquatic insects, and the seeds and buds 
of plants. The American and Australian jacanas belong to the same 
sub-family, and he is close of kin to the screamers. 
The tragopan, or Lehututu, also inhabits the Zambesi valley. He 
strongly resembles a turkey ; and when standing still appears quite 
black, but when flying his wings are seen to be partly white. His 
native name is onomatopoeic. He wages war against serpents, killing 
them with a blow administered skilfully behind the head. 
THE SECRETARY-BIRD OR SERPENT-BIRD. 
We are thus reminded of the serpent-bird, or secretary-bird ; the 
latter appellation referring to his crest, which has been fancifully com- 
pared to a pen behind a clerk's ear. He is known to the Arabs, most 
grotesquely, as "the devil's horse;" in the Eastern Soudan they call 
him " the bird of fate." 
The secretary-bird is found over a great part of Africa, his range 
extending from the Cape to the fifteenth parallel of north latitude, and 
from the shores of the Red Sea to the banks of the Senegal. His 
structure is a proof that he was designed to inhabit the wide plains of 
