Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 5 (1901).djvu/243

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The Aardwolf (Proteles cristatus) in the Transvaal Colony.—On Aug. 10th, 1900, when coming back from a visit to Zuurfontein Station, I saw an Aardwolf out on the veld. I drove towards him, but he took no more notice of me than he would of a post. When I got to within a distance of about twenty yards from him he looked up and stared at me. I approached a few yards nearer: there stood the brute in broad daylight, not fifteen yards distant, contemplating me with the utmost sangfroid. I called out, whereupon he uttered a few snorts or grunts, and made off at a clumsy trot, his hind quarters sloping so much as to appear a burden to him. After putting a dozen yards or so between us, he stood still again, and watched me slyly. He appeared to be doing an extraordinary thing, viz. stalking "Crown-headed" Lapwings, or "Kwikies," as they are locally termed, as he quietly continued to slink after them. His utter contempt for my presence seemed to point to the fact that he knew perfectly well I had not the wherewithal to harm him. After shouting and driving towards him, he made off again at a trot, every now and then breaking into a clumsy gallop, and ever and anon standing and looking back. It was half-past five in the afternoon, and the sun was not yet touching the horizon. Extreme hunger could have alone driven the brute out at such an hour. A few evenings before a friend of mine shot one about three miles from the spot where I saw my specimen, though it was absolutely dusk and among trees, whereas my animal was out on the flat veld.— (Modderfontein).

[This animal appears to be changing what was considered as its purely insectivorous diet. Mr. W.L. Sclater ('Mammals of South Africa,' vol. i. p. 82) has recently recorded that farmers have found that their sheep and kids are attacked by this animal; and Mr. Haagner has now seen it hunting Lapwings. Nicolls and Eglington, in their 'Sportsman in South Africa,' seem to correctly describe the food of this animal as consisting "of insects and reptiles, as well as small animals (mammals) and birds."—