NATURAL HISTORY OF SOUTH AFRICA 



safe from above, for the Hawks by day, and the 

 Owls by night levy a heavy toll on them. 



Although usually nocturnal by habit, the Ger- 

 bille is often seen abroad during the daylight hours, 

 especially on cloudy days and towards sundown. 

 While lying conceale^d in a bush watching the antics 

 of a group of Gerbilles during the late afternoon, 

 I observed a Black-shouldered Kite approaching. 

 It was flying slowly at a height of about 50 feet 

 from the ground. The instant it observed the 

 Gerbilles below it checked its flight and dropped 

 like a stone. So rapidly did it descend that I could 

 barely see its form. In a moment or two, when 

 within a few feet of the ground, the Hawk spread 

 its wings and tail horizontally to check its descent 

 and to enable it to see its prey. With a dash it 

 seized a Gerbille with the talons of its left foot, 

 and before the other Gerbilles could escape, it 

 captured another with its beak. 



When pursued, the Gerbille bounds off with 

 great leaps after the manner of a Kangaroo. 



The diet of the Gerbille consists of roots, bulbs, 

 seeds, tender shoots of plants, the bark of trees, 

 and any other form of edible vegetable substance. 

 On account of its vegetation-eating propensities 

 it does a considerable amount of harm to Man, 

 both indirectly and directly. The vegetation which 

 grows upon the sand dunes, and in the vast desert- 

 like tracts of country in South Africa, is scanty at 

 the most favourable of times. It, in consequence, 



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