BUBONID^E BUBO 249 



Atmore on the Buffelsjagts river in the Swellendam division, and the 

 South African Museum possesses an example from Coernay in the 

 Alexandra division. In Natal it is widespread, having been obtained 

 near Newcastle by Feilden in June and in south Natal and north 

 Zululand by the Woodwards. 



A closely allied, though distinct species (B. ascalaphus) is found 

 in Abyssinia and north-east Africa. 



Habits. This Eagle Owl is, to a certain extent at any rate, 

 diurnal in its habits, as Layard shot one during the day in bright 

 sunlight after a long chase across the Cape flats, and the Wood- 

 wards too state that it hunts over the open veld near woods. It 

 preys on small animals and birds, even attacking, according to the 

 Woodwards, the Springhaas (Pedetes caffer). The nest, which is 

 generally placed on an exposed bank near a river, has been found 

 and described by Layard, Atmore, and the Woodwards ; it is like 

 that of a hawk, made up of sticks, while the numerous pellets cast 

 by the old birds make a soft bed for the eggs and young ; the eggs 

 are from two to four in number, pure white, smooth and not shiny, 

 rounded at both ends and measuring about 2-0 x 1*75. Layard 

 found a nest on the Berg river on September 21 ; the nest taken 

 by Atmore was in a mimosa tree on the Buffelsjagts river ; it con- 

 tained three eggs and had been previously used by a crow. 



497. Bubo maculosus. 'Spotted Eagle Owl. 



Le Choucouhou, Levaillant, Ois. d'Afr. i, p. 157, pi. 39 (1799). 



Strix maculosa, Vieill. N. Diet. Hist. Nat. vii, p. 44 (1817) ; Grill, E. 

 Vet. Akad. Handl. ii, no. 10, p. 47 (1858) [Cape and Knysna]. 



Strix africana, Temm. PI. Col. p. 50 (1824). 

 . Otus maculosa, Smith, S. A. Quart. Journ. ii, p. 315 (1834). 



Bubo maculosus, Gurney, Ibis, 1859, p. 242 [Natal]; Layard, B. S. Afr. 

 p. 40 (1867) ; Pelzeln, Novara Eeise, Vogel, p. 26, pi. vi, fig. 1 (egg) 

 (1869) ; Ayres, Ibis, 1869, p. 289 [Transvaal]; Gurney, Andersson's 

 B. Damaraland, p. 42 (1872) ; Sharpe, ed. Layard's B. S. Afr. 

 pp. 73, 801 (1875-84) ; id. Cat. B. M. ii, p. 31 (1875) ; Barratt, Ibis, 

 1876, p. 196 ; Ayres, Ibis, 1879, p. 287 [Eustenburg] ; Holub & 

 Pelzeln, Orn. Slid- Afr. p. 43 (1882) ; Butler, Feilden, and Reid, Zool. 

 1882, p. 204 [Natal] ; Fleck, Journ. Ornith. 1894, p. 394 [Reheboth] ; 

 Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 143 ; Kendall, Ibis, 1896, p. 166 [Barberton] ; 

 Sowerby, Ibis, 1898, p. 575 [Chiquaqua] ; 'Woodward Bros. Natal 

 Birds, p. 155 (1899) ; Marshall, Ibis, 1900, p. 260 [Salisbury dist.] ; 

 Eeichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 654 (1901) ; Harris, Essays and Photogr. 

 p. 155, pi. xlii (young birds) (1901). 



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