poultry reared in open situations. The most common of
these depredators is the Rufous Buzzard (Buteo deser-
torum) and an occasional Yellow-billed Kite (Milvus
a1gyptius). These birds, especially the former, were par-
Ruteo desertorum. , Post of Observation.
ticularly numerous about the month of December, and
were a great source of trouble to the small squatters on
the veld, who erect their shanties (for no other word
will adequately express the poverty of these dwellings)
on the outskirts of the town. Most of these people
kept a few poultry, and their young chickens and
ducklings too often served as food for the active and
rapacious birds. I skinned several specimens that
were shot about this time, and they were lined with
layers of yellow fat, similar to what is found in an overfed
Christmas goose. These buzzards were particularly
fond of sitting on the telegraph-poles that crossed the
veld, or using the tops of ant-hills as a post of observation,
and were a terror to all the domestic birds of
the neighbourhood. The dread of impending evil sits
as heavily on the minds of these ducks and fowls as the
fear of poverty chills the heart of so many men; and I
once witnessed this instinctive or inherited terror, in
the wild alarm shown by a brood of young ducklings at
the shadow and sudden appearance of a tame pigeon
just above them. This poor pigeon unwittingly caused a
Buzzard panic, and proved unmistakably the frequency
of a real danger, though giving at the time a false
alarm.