New York Zoological Society. 
SECRETARY BIRD (Serpentarius secretaries) . Length: 4 feet. Range: Africa: 
south of the Sahara. 
Secretary birds are the cobra-killers of Africa. Their service to man in 
destroying harmful snakes has been acknowledged by legislation protecting 
them from hunters. 
white eggs with reddish-brown splotches at one end are laid, usually in 
August, and hatched out by the female, the entire process requiring six 
weeks. During this season the male becomes exceedingly pugnacious and 
will attack any intruder with his feet and wings. 
Ralph De Sola, Federal Writers Project. 
BEARDED VULTURE or 
LAMMERGEIER (Gy- 
PAETUS BARBATUS). 
Length: 4 feet. Range: 
Mountains of Mediter¬ 
ranean region in Europe 
and North Africa; Cen¬ 
tral Asia and northern 
China. 
Fond of bones, the 
lammergeier will often 
fly with them to a great 
height, drop them on the 
rocks below, and then 
retrieve the shattered 
morsels. It is alleged 
that the Greek dramatist 
Aeschylus met his death 
when a bearded vulture 
dropped a tortoise on his 
head. A lammergeier liv¬ 
ing in London, in the 
zoo to be sure, survived 
captivity for twenty- 
three years. 
