826 NATURAL HISTORY OF AFRICA. 



Good Hope. It appears to be allied to the moor-buzzard« 

 in its manners. It builds its nest among rushes, with the 

 stalks of the leaves of water-plants, and feeds chiefly on 

 frogs and young waterfowl. 



The next family of carnivorous birds are the nocturnal 

 tribes called owls, which may be said to bear the same re- 

 lation to the more active and elegant hawks that moths do 

 to butterflies. Africa is by no means rich in owls, at least 

 very few have attracted the notice of travellers in that 

 country. We shall here mention only the very beautiful 

 falconian owl of Latham {Strix Africana)y which appears 

 during the short-Uved twilight, and moves with rapid flight. 



We may place, as intermediate between the regular birds 

 of prey and the passerine species, those called butcher-birds, 

 of which Africa produces a great variety of kinds. The 

 habits of the collared shrike {Lanius coUaris) are described 

 by Le Vaillant. When it sees a locust, a mantis, or a small 

 bird, it springs upon it and immediately carries it off, in or- 

 der to impale it on a thorn, which it does with great dexte- 

 rity, always passing the thorn through the head of its vic- 

 tim. Every animal which it seizes is subjected to the same 

 fate ; and it thus continues all day long its murderous ca- 

 reer, apparently instigated rather by the love of mischief 

 than the desire of food. Its throne of tyranny is usually 

 a dry and elevated branch of a tree, from which it pounces 

 on all intruders, driving oflf the stronger and more trouble- 

 some, and impaling the inexperienced alive. When hun- 

 gry, it visits its shambles, and helps itself to a savoury 

 meal. The Hottentots assured Le Vaillant that it does not 

 love fresh food, and therefore leaves its prey on the gib- 

 bet till it becomes putrescent. But beneath the scorching 

 6un of Africa this process of decomposition sometimes does 

 not take place, from the rapid exhalation of the animal 

 fluids in a warm and arid atmosphere ; and, consequently, 

 whatever spiny shrub may have been chosen by the butcher- 

 bird as the place of execution, is frequently found covered 

 not with sweet-smelling and many-coloured blossoms, but 

 with the dried carcasses of singing-birds, and the bodies of 

 locusts and other insects of the larger size. This unamia- 

 blf and irascible bird is figured and described in the fourth 



