NATURAL HISTORY OF SOUTH AFRICA 



the Eagle Owl and the Python are all ever on the 

 alert to snap up a Tree Dassie. The Eagle Owl, 

 sitting silently on a large branch among the dense 

 foliage in the early hours of the evening or bright 

 moonlight night, drops like a stone upon any unwary 

 Dassie which might run along a branch beneath it. 

 So closely do these owls blend with the colour of the 

 branches, twigs, leaves, and light and shade, that 

 when sitting bunched up on a branch they are 

 practically invisible, even to a Tree Dassie. Of the 

 three species inhabiting South Africa, the Spotted 

 Eagle Owl (Bubo maculosus) is the most persistent 

 hunter of Tree Dassies. Its flight is noiseless, and 

 in the gloaming it may often be seen gliding silently 

 over the forest trees and dipping down into the 

 glades, and should a Tree Dassie be sighted, a rapid 

 dash is made at it. 



Watching some of these Dassies one evening just 

 before dark in a clearing in a forest, where they had 

 descended to the ground and were feeding upon 

 the sweet grasses, I observed an Eagle Owl suddenly 

 appear over the tops of the adjacent trees. With 

 shrill squeaks the Dassies scattered, but within two 

 or three seconds of the appearance of the Owl it had 

 dropped upon one and had it in its talons. Grip- 

 ping it tight, the bird soon put, an end to its life 

 by a few blows on the skull with its beak. It then, 

 without any further delay, began to devour it. 

 After eating a portion, it flew off with the remainder, 

 probably to serve as a meal for a nestful of young 

 238 



