SECRETARY-BIRD

a South African | i2 bird of prey. It is of a slaty-grey colour, | tt and averages about 3 feet in length. It ps receives its name from a peculiar band of feathers that projects from each side of the head, and that presents the appearance of | ™ a bundle of pens stuck behind the ears. | Mk Its food consista principally of snakes, | ar lizards, and other reptiles. The bird | 0" attacks snakes of the largest kind; even | ta the cobra falls a certain prey. Making/| & use of its wings and fect as weapons, it} S raises its victim and stuns it by dashing } a ittotheground. This habit of destroying | S« yenomous reptiles has placed the bird| re — the protection of the law in Cape/!o ony. ar [s. 274]