The secretary-bird, which is a South African species, though extending northwards as far as Abyssinia, builds a huge nest of sticks in low bushes, under which will often be found numerous nests of the Cape sparrow, apparently the only available site on the veldt, where bushes are scarce. Here the sparrows are efficiently protected from the icy winds which so frequently sweep across this region, and apparently suffer no fear of personal violence from the fierce owners of the domicile above them. When sitting, the female secretary is fed by her mate. The young do not appear to leave the nest for five or six months. They are frequently taken from the nest and brought up as household pets, becoming not only very tame, but exceedingly useful.
The Eagle and Falcon Tribe.
From the perplexing wealth of species displayed among the forms herein bracketed together, we can only select a few examples, which embrace, however, all the more important and interesting forms.
Beginning with the more lowly, we start with those members of small or medium size known as Kites, and as an example of the group take the species known in the British Islands as the Kite, or Glead. In former days this bird was extremely common in England, being found in numbers not only in the rural districts, but in London itself, where, as old records of the fifteenth century show, it occurred in such numbers near London Bridge as to excite the wonder of foreigners visiting the city. These birds found an abundance of food in the garbage of the streets, and also of the Thames itself—"an observation," remarks Mr. Finn, "which throws a lurid light upon the city sanitation."
In the days of falconry the kite was royal game, not, however, by legal enactment, but by reason of the fact that none but specially trained falcons could secure a prey with such wonderful powers of flight. Consequently the price of a falcon which had attained this degree of skill was beyond the purse of any but a king.
Save on the wing, the kite is not a handsome bird, its general colour being of a pale reddish brown; but those who have had the good fortune to watch its flight are one and all impressed. Cowper admirably expresses the general admiration in the lines:—
Kites that swim sublime
In still repeated circles, screaming loud.
The kites may be distinguished from other members of the tribe by their forked tails. Somewhat of a scavenger, as we have already hinted, the kite feeds also upon such small game as moles, frogs, young birds, rabbits, snakes, and fish. Its partiality for young birds caused it to be much dreaded in the farmyard in the days when it was common; and when, with the introduction of modern and improved firearms, game-preserving became more strenuously prosecuted, its doom was sealed, for a ceaseless war was waged against it, which ended only with its extermination.
