Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 46.djvu/791

Rh, of over two feet. We are at first struck with the peculiar crest of vertical feathers at the base of the upper bill, and this latter being a bright red, and its large and handsome eyes of a clear yellow, the bird has a very animated mien, which is in no way lessened by its stately carriage. The eyes are surrounded by a pale green or bluish skin, while in its general plumage the seriema is a slaty gray, shading off beneath to a soiled white. On the throat, neck, and sides the feathers are loose and long, and are variegated by fine, irregularly transverse lines. The wings and tail are darker and mottled, while the legs are of a pinkish red. The home of this bird are the elevated plains of Brazil, where, in the high grass of those regions, the traveler not infrequently meets with it. Upon being approached it lowers its body and rapidly skulks away, and, unless the observer be mounted and take after it, it rarely can be induced to take to wing. It lives upon a variety of small animals, as snakes, lizards, and the like, and also eats certain insects, berries, and land snails. Instead of building its nest upon the ground, as one would naturally be led to suppose, it constructs it in the dense undergrowth of bushes, or even some six or seven feet above the ground in a tree. Its two eggs are said to resemble those of some of the crakes or land rails, and the down-covered young long remain in the nest after being hatched.

We have said above that the seriema bore a general resemblance to the secretary bird. Now this latter is a well-known type, and is itself a true "outlier" of the class which inhabits certain parts of Africa (see Fig. G). It derives its vernacular name from the fact that it possesses pairs of long, black feathers, which hang loosely from the back of the head and the neck, resembling, in the eyes of some of its describers, the quill stuck above the ear of a clerk. These feathers, when the bird is excited, are capable of erection and dilatation, giving their possessor at such times, an aspect of great fierceness. Standing some four feet in height, and with its raptorial-appearing head, the secretary bird, for all the world, looks like some kind of a falcon on stilts. Its general plumage is a slate blue with black wings. The tail is tipped with white, but what is more peculiar about it is that the middle pairs of feathers are greatly elongated, and give to the bird a very singular appearance.

Living chiefly upon the ground, over which they can run with considerable speed, they nevertheless build their great massive nests in bushes or trees, and deposit therein their two spotted