72 BIRDS OF SOUTH AFRICA. 
from Colesberg, and Mr. Atmore procured it at Blanco. Dr. 
Atherstone also has it from the Fish River. Mr. Ayres has recorded 
a specimen from the interior of Natal, and says :—“I observed this 
fine Owl sparsely scattered along the banks of the Limpopo during 
a recent journey through that district,” and the late Mr. Andersson 
gives the following note :— This is the largest Owl found in Dam- 
ara Land, It is of not unfrequent occurrence from the Okavango 
River northward, to the Cape Colony in the south, and it is also 
met with in the Lake regions.” Senor Anchieta has procured it at 
Quillengues and Caconda in Benguela. 
Mr, Atmore has sent us the following account of its habits :— 
“ Meirine’s Poort, June 19th, 1863.—I heave at last obtained the 
large Owl described to be as ‘big as a vulture. I send him 
herewith. Eyes black, with a narrow brick-red ring round the iris. 
He is very destructive to poultry, and judging from the capacity of 
its swallow, could take down a chicken at a gulp. The throat is of 
a peculiar construction, and I now regret I did not send it to you in 
spirits. The fat all round it was half an inch thick. His call-note 
is often mistaken for that of aleopard. One killeda dikkop (die- 
nemus maculosus) and left his skeleton close to the house, so it 
appears he victimises them as well as poultry. He throws up no 
quids.” 
Mr. Jackson corroborates Mr. Atmore’s statement of its being 
destructive to poultry. He had many hens sitting in boxes in a 
building with high walls, and closed doors, secure from every prow- 
ler but a winged one; but the window in the roof being left open, 
each night a hen disappeared. Mr. Jackson set a wire snare over 
each box, and soon had the satisfaction of noosing the robber, who, 
even with the wire round his leg, would not let go his prey, and was 
killed “ red-handed.” 
Mr. Ayres writes :—“ About sunrise individuals may be heard 
making a low hooting ‘ goo, goo,’ repeated at intervals. The stomach 
of the specimen sent from the Limpopo contained the remains of a 
Guinea - fowl, Nwmida coronata, a species which is exceedingly 
plentiful all along the Limpopo, and roosts at night on the trees by 
the side of the river.” Mr. Andersson states that its food consists 
of mice and other small quadrupeds, birds, lizards, and large beetles. 
Mr. T. E. Buckley observes :—‘ This fine Owl is very common 
from the Transvaal as far as the Matabili land, haunting the sides 
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