THE TREE DASSIE 



marvellously quick and sure-footed. They run along 

 the boughs and leap with the greatest of judgment. 



The lair of the Tree Dassie is in the hollow trunks 

 of the trees, and the cavities in large branches. In 

 the virgin forests of South Africa there are great 

 numbers of old trees which afford ample shelter 

 for the Bush Dassie within their hollow interiors. 

 In these cavities they sleep at night, seek shelter 

 from the rain or their enemies, and rear their young, 

 which average three at a birth. 



The Bush Dassie is common in the forest districts 

 of the eastern parts of Cape Province, and extends 

 north at least as far as East Africa. It was common 

 in the vicinity of Port Elizabeth in the past, but 

 owing to the extensive felling of the native trees 

 which afforded the requisite shelter, it has disap- 

 peared, although it is still common in Alexandria 

 District. 



On one occasion I was present when a Sneezewood 

 tree was cut down. It proved to be hollow, with 

 an opening between two branches at the top of the 

 trunk, and within the cavity we found a family of 

 Tree Dassies, which we could not dislodge until the 

 trunk was cut across. We poked them out, where- 

 upon they scampered off, and running up an adja- 

 cent tree, vanished in a few seconds. 



A second species of Tree Dassie, known as Bruce's 



Dassie (Procavia brucii), occurs in Rhodesia, south 



of the Zambesi, and is therefore included as one 



of the South African animals, as, in a Zoological 



235 



