This is the only African representative of the Caracaras, or web-footed birds of prey, and from its general look and from its habits, no less than from some peculiar anatomical characters, it is by many good authorities considered to be a game bird, and not a Hawk at all. No one, however, who has seen a Secretary kill a Rat, and the prodigious force with which, by repeated blows of his powerful legs, sometimes springing into the air and bringing both feet down at the same moment upon his victim, he quickly reduces it to a shapeless pulp, would consider him anything but a bird of prey. Standing before a Cobra which rises to attack him, the Secretary spreads his wings out in front as a shield to guard his body, and then from behind this protection he strikes his enemy down. On account of their prowess in destroying venomous Serpents, they are protected with care by both the European and Native Governments in South Africa, and in the Cape Colony a penalty is inflicted upon any one who ventures to kill one of these useful birds. Sometimes the Secretary does not win in the fight with the Snake, for a good observer has stated that on one occasion he saw a bird suddenly leave off fighting and run to a pool of water, where he fell down dead. If the Snake bites a feather, the bird immediately pulls it out, but in the above instance the reptile had drawn blood from the point of the pinion. It is somewhat remarkable that the Secretary should have such striking power in his legs, as they are long and slender for the size of the bird, and are so brittle that it is said that, if suddenly started into a quick run, their legs will snap. The Secretary Bird is a most voracious feeder, devouring Rats, Lizards, Locusts, Snakes, Tortoises, &c., and Levaillant states that he took from the stomach of one of these birds three Serpents as long as his arm and an inch in thickness, eleven Lizards of seven or eight inches in length, and twenty-one small Tortoises of about two inches in diameter, besides a large quantity of Grasshoppers or Locusts, and other insects.
SECRETARY BIRD.
A spirited and truthful account of the habits of the Secretary was published in 1856 by the late M. Jules Verreaux, who spent upwards of fifteen years in South Africa engaged in a study of the natural history of that part of the world, and a few extracts from this paper cannot be resisted.[172] “As Nature exhibits foresight in all that she does, she has given to each animal its means of preservation. Thus the Secretary Bird has been modelled on a plan appropriate to its mode of life; and it is therefore for this purpose that, owing to the length of its legs and tarsi, its piercing eye is able to discover at a long distance the prey which, in anticipation of its appearance, is stretched on the sand or amongst the thick grass. The elegant and majestic form of the bird becomes now even more graceful; it now brings into action all its cunning in order to surprise the Snake which it is going to attack; therefore it approaches with the greatest caution. The elevation of the feathers of the neck and back of the head shows when the moment for attack has arrived. It throws itself with such force on the reptile that very often the latter does not survive the first blow. But if the bird does not succeed, and the enraged Snake draws itself up and expands, at the same time, the skin of its neck, as is the way with the more dangerous Serpents, the bird is forced to retreat, and takes a spring backwards, waiting to seize a favourable moment for recommencing the attack. Raising itself, the furious reptile moves its tongue with the quickness of lightning, and gives forth the most vehement hisses, which keep back the enemy and seem to force some respect from it: but the bird, whose courage redoubles in the same ratio that the difficulties increase, opens out its wings, and, returning to the charge, assails the reptile afresh with blows from its terrible feet, such as no one would believe, and which are not long in putting the Snake hors de combat. We have, however, sometimes seen the Snakes launch themselves on the Secretary, but, either by opening its wings, whose long primaries serve it as a kind of shield, or by jumping backwards or on one side, the bird is certain to parry the attack of its antagonist, who at last, overcome by fatigue, falls at full length on the ground. The moment is seized by the Secretary to redouble its massive blows, which, by dislocating the vertebral column, soon cause the reptile to give up the ghost. It is then that the victorious Hawk darts like an arrow, and placing its foot on the Serpent’s neck, just at the back of the head, commences to swallow it, which it does by beginning at the tail first. Nor is this a long operation, even with reptiles five or six feet in length and more than four inches in diameter; and as soon as it arrives at the head it completely smashes the skull by several blows of its bill before swallowing it.”
“Both sexes work at the construction of the nest, which is always placed on the summit of a high dense bush, more often a mimosa. It is added to each year, and it is easy to see the age of a nest by the number of fresh layers which have been added year by year. The young birds remain for six months before leaving the nest, their legs not being strong enough to support the weight of the body. During the whole of this time they are fed with great assiduity by both parents.”
The Secretary Bird stands more than four feet high, when fully grown. The general colour of the plumage is grey, with black quills; the lower back and rump are black, the upper tail-coverts white; the tail is grey, tipped with white, and crossed with two black bands; below, the colour is ashy-white, the thighs and abdomen black. From the hinder part of the crown and occiput springs an elegant crest of plumes, which the bird can raise or depress at will; they are either entirely black, or grey with a black tip. It is from these long plumes that the bird has got the name of the Secretary, from some fancied resemblance in the bird’s head to the quills which a secretary places behind his ear.
In America, the Secretary is represented by the Çariama (Çariama cristata), a bird which looks so like a game bird that, as we have said, many ornithologists place both it and the Secretary among the Gallinaceous birds, and not among the Hawks. From a consideration of its anatomy, however, both Professor Parker and Professor Sundevall determined that the Çariama is an accipitrine bird, though of a very aberrant form. Those who differ from them admit that where the Secretary is placed in the natural system the Çariama must also be located, and no one who has studied the habits of the former, either in a wild state or in captivity, can doubt for a moment that it is a veritable bird of prey, and so it follows that the Bustard-like Çariama must also be included in the same order.
CHAPTER IV.
THE LONG-LEGGED HAWKS AND BUZZARDS.
[THE BANDED GYMNOGENE]—Habits—Its Movable Tarsi—[THE HARRIERS]—Distinctive Features—[THE MARSH HARRIER]—Habits—Its Thievish Propensities—[THE HARRIER-HAWKS]—Colonel Greyson’s Account of their Habits—[THE CHANTING GOSHAWKS]—Why so Called—Habits—[THE TRUE GOSHAWKS]—Distinctive Characters—[THE GOSHAWK]—Distribution—In Pursuit of its Prey—Appearance—[THE SPARROW-HAWKS]—Distinctive Characters—[THE COMMON SPARROW-HAWK]—Habits—Appearance—[THE BUZZARDS]—Their Tarsus—[THE COMMON BUZZARD]—Where Found—How it might be turned to Account—Food—Its Migrations—Habits—Appearance—[THE HARPY].