SERPENTAR1US, Shaw, Etc.; YULTUR SERPENTARIUS, Lin. GyroGERANus, Illig. and Temm. ; Messenger, Secre tary, &c. Bill shorter than the head, thick, strong, curv ed from near its origin, furnished with a cere at the base, and depressed at the point ; nostrils somewhat remote from the base of the bill, lateral, inserted in the cere, diagonal, oblong, and open ; legs very long and slender ; the tibia feathered, the tarsus long, and more slender below than above ; the toes short, warty beneath, the fore ones united at the base by a membrane, the hinder articulated on the tarsus ; wings long, and armed with obtuse spurs. There is only one species, whose characters, consequently, are those of the genus.
S. 4fricanus, Shaw, Etc.; Vultur ser/ientarius, Lin. &c.; Snake-eater, ?frican Snake-eater, Secretary, Sagit tarius, Secretary Vulture, &c. Cinereous; hind-head crested ; tail wedge-shaped, with the middle tail-feathers lengthened. The bill is black, and the crest capable of being erected or depressed. From this bunch of ten feathers behind the head, the Dutch gave the bird the name of Secretary, because in Holland, clerks, when interrupted in their writing, stick their pen in the hair, behind the right ear. This species inhabits the dry plains in the lower parts of Africa and the Philippine islands. Being almost always obliged to run in pursuit of its prey, it sel dom avails itscli of its power of flight ; and it frequently kills, or at least wholly disables, a snake, by breaking the vertebra with a single stroke of the wing. In its natural state it is very wild, and not easily approached. The male and female rarely quit each other. Those which frequent the neighbourhood of the Cape construct a very large nest, on the top of some high thicket, and line it with wool and feathers ; but towards the regions of Natal, they build on lofty trees. The eggs, which are two or three in number, are about the size of those of a goose, and white, with red dish specks.
When taken young, the snake-eater may be easily tamed, and kept with poultry in the farm-yard, where it is ser viceable in destroying rats and other noxious animals. It may be fed with meat, either raw or dressed, and will readily eat fish ; but, if allowed to fast too long, it is apt to sieze on small chickens and which it swallows whole.
It is not, however, of a malignant disposition, and is ge nerally observed to interpose its authority in appeasing the quarrels that take place among the other birds When in a domesticated state, scarcely any kind of food comes amiss to it ; and if young birds are presented to it, it will take them by the bill foremost, and swallow them entire. Levaillant tells us, that he witnessed an engagement be tween a secretary vulture and a serpent, and which was conducted with obstinacy and address on both sides. The latter, feeling at length the inferiority of his resources. em ployed, in attempting to regain his hole, all that cunning which is ascribed to his race, while the bird, apparently guessing his design, stopped him on a sudden, and cut off his retreat by placing herself before him at a single leap. On whatever side the reptile endeavoured to effect his escape, his adversary still appeared before him. He then erected himself boldly, to intimidate the bird, and, hissing vehemently, displayed his menacing throat, inflamed eyes, and a head swollen with rage and venom. This threatening aspect sometimes produced a suspension of hostilities ; but the bird soon returned to the charge, and covering her body with one of her wings, as a buckler, struck her an tagonist with the bony protuberance of the other. He then staggered and fell, and the conqueror, with a single stroke of her beak, laid open his scull. At this instant, the traveller fired at and killed her. In her crop he found, on dissection, eleven tolerably large lizards, three serpents, as long as his arm, eleven small tortoises, most of which were about two inches in diameter, and a number of lo custs and other insects. In addition to this mass of food, the crop contained a sort of ball, as large as a goose's egg, formed of the vertebra of serpents and lizards, shells of different tortoises, and wings, claws, and shields of dif ferent sorts of beetles, destined, no doubt, to be disgorged, as in other birds of prey.