













Mr. F. A. Barratt’s Notes on the Birds 

194 

me; and by his advice I have applied myself on the present 
occasion to the distribution of the birds through the different 
districts traversed by me. I hope to revisit the Macamac 
Gold-fields ; and I shall then pay even greater attention to the 
birds, now that I am aware of the interest that attaches to 
them. The collection which I brought to England is a very 
small one compared with that which the government of the 
Orange Free State took from me as a contribution to the 
forthcoming Philadelphia Exhibition. 
The nomenclature employed is that of Mr. Sharpe’ s edi- 
tion of Layard’s ‘ Birds of South Africa,’ his ‘ Catalogue of 
African Birds,’ and of the first edition of Layard’s ‘ Birds of 
South Africa.’ 














1. OroGyPs AURICULARIS. 
I killed a fine female specimen of this Vulture with a bullet 
from behind a rock, in the Orange Free State; it had the ear- 
lappets well developed, as have all the specimens which I have 
noticed in South Africa. According to my experience they 
do not associate with the other Vultures, but keep aloof, and 
remain in pairs; or a single bird may sometimes be seen on a 
tree or rock. 
I kept one in confinement, which became exceedingly tame ; 
and it was always able to hold its own against a tame baboon 
which I kept in the same yard. 




















2. SERPENTARIUS SECRETARIUS. 
I have seen this bird near Lydenburg, Rustenberg, and 
sparingly throughout my travels in the Transvaal and Free 
State. They are preserved in both places; and a heavy fine is 
inflicted on any person found out by the authorities to have 
shot one. The Secretary stalks about very majestically, and 
now and then makes a pounce upon something, which he 
swallows at once. I had two tame ones at my farm at Cha- 
lumna, British Kaffraria, which used to run about the garden ; 
but they were very weak on their legs. In attacking a snake 
they would shade (or, rather, cover) the tibia with the wing, 
and then strike with the lower part of the tarsus and foot ; 
when the snake was stunned it would be seized by the back 









