36 BIRDS OF DAMARA LAND. 



the attack, but, by a rapid succession of violent blows 

 from its formidably armed wings, generally succeeds, in 

 a short time, in prostrating its wily enemy ; and some- 

 times a well-directed blow on the vertebrae of the snake 

 at once ends the combat. As soon as this is ac- 

 complished the bird dexterously seizes its fallen enemy 

 in its bill, and, after having well tossed it backwards and 

 forwards, finally puts an end to the death-struggle by 

 transfixing the brain with its powerful beak. 



STRIGIDJE. 



46. Strix poensis, Fraser. South- African Screech-Owl. 



Strix poensis, Fraser, in Proc. Zool. Soc. 1842, p. 189. 



Strix affinis, Layard's Cat. No. 65. 



Strix flammea, Chapman's Travels in S. Afr., App. p. 393. 



South of the Orange River this Owl is exceedingly 

 common ; but north of that river it is a very scarce bird, 

 though widely distributed over all the countries of which 

 these notes treat. 



Measurements of a male and a female : 



Male. Female, 



in. lin. in. lin. 



Entire length ..... 13 5 13 8 



Length of folded wing . . 11 4 11 3 



tarsus ....28 26 



middle toe ... 1 3 13 



tail ..... 5 50 



bill 17 17 



[I believe that no figure of this Owl has yet been published. 

 It is very closely allied to Strix flammea of Europe and Northern 

 Africa, from which it appears only to differ in its slightly larger 

 average measurements, in the somewhat deeper colouring of the 

 upper surface generally, and in the under surface being more 

 profusely sprinkled with small dark spots. ED.] 



