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Of course it was Jan's pet, and Jan was very good to it; but it now repaid all his kindness in saving him from the fangs of the deadly cobra. The children, having recovered from their alarm, stood watching the singular conflict between serpent and serpent-eater. On first seizing the reptile the bird had caught it by the neck in its beak.
It will also eat lizards, tortoises, and even locusts; but snakes are certainly its favourite food, and to obtain these it risks its life in many a deadly encounter with those of a very large kind. The serpent-eater is an African bird, and is not peculiar to South Africa alone, as it is found in the Gambia country. It is also a native of the Philippine Isles.
His object was to stun the latter by the fall; and the more effectually to do this, he would have carried the cobra still higher, had not the latter prevented it by attempting to coil itself around his wings. Upon letting fall his prey the serpent-eater did not remain in the air.
It will also eat lizards, tortoises, and even locusts; but snakes are certainly its favourite food, and to obtain these it risks its life in many a deadly encounter with those of a very large kind. The serpent-eater is an African bird, and is not peculiar to South Africa alone, as it is found in the Gambia country. It is also a native of the Philippine Isles.
The serpent-eater is, however, a very unique bird; and naturalists, failing to class it with either hawks, eagles, vultures, gallinæ, or cranes, have elevated it, so as to form a distinct tribe, family, genus, and species, of itself. In South Africa it frequents the great plains and dry karoos, stalking about in search of its prey.
In the African species the two middle ones are the longest, while in the serpent-eater of the Philippines it is the two outside feathers that project giving the bird the appearance of having a "fork" or "swallow" tail. Some points of distinction have also been observed between the South African bird and that of the Gambia.
O Brahmana, even he is the charioteer of Surya, always seen in the hour of morning! "Then at the expiration of the five hundred years, bursting open the other egg, out came Garuda, the serpent-eater. O tiger of Bhrigu's race, immediately on seeing the light, that son of Vinata left his mother.
The serpent-eater is, however, a very unique bird; and naturalists, failing to class it with either hawks, eagles, vultures, gallinae, or cranes, have elevated it, so as to form a distinct tribe, family, genus, and species, of itself. In South Africa it frequents the great plains and dry karoos, stalking about in search of its prey.
The serpent-eater is an excellent runner, and spends more time on foot than on the wing. It is a shy wary bird, yet, notwithstanding, it is most easily domesticated; and it is not uncommon to see them about the houses of the Cape farmers, where they are kept as pets, on account of their usefulness in destroying snakes, lizards, and other vermin.
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."
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