254 MR. R. E. SYMONS 



soaring majestically high above the cliffs and crags of 

 his nionntain lionie, or swooping at liglitning velocity 

 after his prey, and again he may be seen seated high up 

 on some dizzy junnacle, truly a ''monarch of all he 

 surveys". 



The Black Eagle lives chietly on rock-rabbits, hence 

 the name Dassievanger of the Boers, which are exceed- 

 ingly plentiful in the mountains. Unfortunately, how- 

 ever, he is rather fond of taking young goats and lambs, 

 and while in charge of the Giant's Castle Game Keserve, 

 natives often complained to me of the depredations of 

 these birds, and begged me to shoot them. They also 

 destroy a good deal of game every year, especially oribi 

 and rhebuck. While at the Little Tugela I once saw 

 an eagle swoop doAvn three or four times on to a full 

 grown vaal rhebuck; the animal was feeding on a very 

 steep hillside just above a krantz, and every time the 

 huge bird came down on to the unfortunate buck's back, 

 it Avould bound forward and so was in imminent danger 

 of going over the krantz. Wliether the bird was really 

 trying to kill the animal I cannot say, but it certainly 

 appeared to be in earnest. Black Eagles are also very 

 partial to baboons, and on one occasion while after a 

 troop of baboons with my brother, high up on the slopes 

 of the Drakensberg, an eagle came swooping down from 

 an immense height and seized a half grown baboon, 

 which act, raised a tremendous chorus of disaj)proval 

 from the other members of the troop. When some dis- 

 tance up in the air, the unfortunate baboon was seen 

 tumbling down ; whether the eagle had released its victim 

 purposely, or that the animals struggles had caused it 

 to do so, I cannot say; the bird made no attempt to 

 follow it up again but flew off. Again in the Little 

 Tugela Valley, an eagle was seen to attack a troop of 

 baboons which were feeding on a ridge, but before the 

 bird could pick out one of the numerous young ones, 

 the whole troop had made off at a great pace for the 



