The Secretary-bird has a peculiar and stately demeanour which any one acquainted with the bird in a state of nature does not easily forget, and nothing seems more inexact than the description given by Brehm, when he writes, it "runs about among the tall grass-stems, or hovers above them."[1] An excellent figure of the bird in a state of nature is given by Mr. J.G. Millais, in his 'A Breath from the Veldt.' The weight of a very large specimen, whose skin I possess, was in the flesh only 10 lbs. My son once came across one roosting in a tree, or "thorn-bush," at sundown.
Driving along this road, and when one passes a swampy space, or crosses a sluit, it is not unusual to disturb a Hammerkop, Scopus umbretta, when it takes to its slow and heavy flight. A writer in the excellent 'Royal Natural History,' recently completed, states:—"Everywhere these birds are mainly crepuscular, and are but seldom seen in full daylight." This is certainly not my own experience, for, especially in the winter season, these birds are in evidence all day long to one who goes far afield and in their haunts. The Hammerkop is plentiful around Pretoria, wherever sluits, water-holes or marshes are found. It is an unsuspecting bird and easily approached. I once marked one down that had settled in a water-hole not more than six feet broad though moderately deep, and I actually reached its edge before the bird took flight. It is much scarcer near the town in the summer, when it has probably retired to breed.
Along the road, and especially on telegraph-poles, one usually sees Buzzards, especially Buteo desertorum. This was the prevalent species near Pretoria when I visited the country before, but seems now—or was during my second sojourn—much scarcer; while, per contra, the Black-shouldered Kite, Elanus cæruleus, which I formerly described as scarce, hovering high in the air, and generally out of reach of the gun, was now plentiful close to the town, and to be seen in trees near dwellings. The real habits of birds are not to be discovered except under prolonged observation.
After crossing the Crocodile river, over which there is now a good bridge, we outspanned at a roadside canteen, kept by the
- ↑ 'From North Pole to Equator,' p. 187
