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The quaint secretary-bird was often to be seen stalking majestically along, solitary and grotesque, with its high marching action. Then the honey-birds must not be forgotten.
These gave the bird a very peculiar appearance; and the fancied resemblance to a secretary of the olden time with his long quill behind his ear before steel pens came into fashion is the reason why the bird has received the very inappropriate name of the "Secretary-bird." It is more properly named the "serpent-eater," and naturalists have given it the title Gypogeranus, or "crane-vulture."
Presently, a huge bird, like a stork on the wing, pounced down close by us. He was a secretary-bird, and had caught sight of a snake. The water is clear as crystal, and is hot enough just NOT to boil an egg, I was told.
I do know that you can keep a secretary-bird away from snakes till it grows old, but the first reptile it sees it immediately starts out to beat him up. I had the inherited hate that makes the secretary-bird rush madly at a snake that may be the first of its species that it has ever seen, and I guess that Leith had no love to spare for me from the moment he took my hand.
We come to lend our presence to what might otherwise develop into an unseemly brawl " He helped himself to a walnut out of a dish on the sideboard. "Here comes my colleague the Secretary-bird. He, too, is more grieved than angry." The Secretary entered warily, and intending combatants girded their loins for battle. "Pouf!" he exclaimed. "What a fug!" And elevated his nose with a sniff.
Of the bird varieties the traveler will be sure of seeing many ostriches, some giant bustards, and perhaps a sedate secretary-bird or two. These animals are the common varieties, and after a short time in the country the stranger learns to tell them apart.
These gave the bird a very peculiar appearance; and the fancied resemblance to a secretary of the olden time with his long quill behind his ear before steel pens came into fashion is the reason why the bird has received the very inappropriate name of the "Secretary-bird." It is more properly named the "serpent-eater," and naturalists have given it the title Gypogeranus, or "crane-vulture."
The secretary-bird proved himself a grand actor; he marched round his cage, bowed two or three times to Fan, then performed the maddest dance imaginable, leaping and pounding the floor with his iron feet, just to show how he broke a serpent's back in South Africa.
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