r, 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. It is not gregarious, but lives solitary
or in pairs, making its nest in trees,--usually those of a thick thorny
species,--which renders the nest most difficult of approach. The whole
edifice is about three feet in diameter, and resembles the nests of the
tree-building eagles. It is usually lined with feathers and down, and
two or three eggs are the number deposited for a single hatching.

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. They
have been long ago introduced into the French West India Islands, and
naturalised there--in order that they should make war upon the dangerous
"yellow serpent" (_Trigonocephalus lanceolatus_), the plague of the
plantations in those parts.

Now the bird which had so opportunely appeared between Jan and Truey,
and had no doubt saved one or the other, or both, from the deadly bite
of the _spuugh-slang_, was a serpent-eater,--one that had been tamed,
and that made its home among the branches of the great nwana-tree. The
hunters had found it upon the plain, wounded by some animal,--perhaps a
very large snake,--and had brought it home as a curiosity. In time it
quite recovered from its wounds; but the kindness it had received,
during the period when it was an invalid, was not thrown away upon it.
When it recovered the use of its wings, it refused to leave the society
of its protectors, but remained habitually in the camp--although it made
frequent excursions into the surrounding plains in search of its
favourite food. It always, however, returned at night, and roosted
among the branches of the great nwana-tree. 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 firs