habitat_narrative
Terrestrial
This species tolerates a wide range of savannah habitats, including savannah woodland, dry grassland at the ecotone between vleis and woodland (for example, Fuller & Perrin 2001), and scrub savannah of the Kalahari, but the common factor to all habitats is tall grassland areas (Kern 1981; Bowland & Perrin 1988; Monadjem 1997a; Skinner & Chimimba 2005; van der Straeten et al. 2008; Rautenbach et al. 2014). It was sampled in tall closed grassland, low open rocky woodland, cultivated areas and open woodland in the Maguga Dam area, Swaziland (Avenant & Kuyler 2002). It is known to inhabit the tall grasses surrounding agricultural lands, especially fallow fields, and also occupies suburban gardens in KwaZulu-Natal (Taylor 1998; Skinner & Chimimba 2005). It prefers areas where there is a good cover of grass, herbs or reeds and avoids areas where vegetation cover is short or absent (Skinner & Chimimba 2005). It vacates recently burnt areas, but returns as soon as the grass recovers (Monadjem & Perrin 1997). It has not been recorded from montane grasslands, forests and riverine woodlands (Monadjem 1999; Delcros et al. 2015).It is predominantly crepuscular but can be diurnal (Perrin 1981) and terrestrial; burrows are excavated where there is overhead cover of matted grass and form runs from burrow entrances to foraging areas (Skinner & Chimimba 2005). In a study in Kruger National Park, stomach content analysis revealed a diet comprised of 50% seeds, 48% herbaceous material and 2% insects (Watson 1987). Similarly, in Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park, KwaZulu-Natal, grass leaves and stems took up 65% of the diet while seeds (25%) and arthropods (3%) comprised the bulk of the remaining food items (Hagenah et al. 2009). In Swaziland, herbaceous material comprised 84.6 ± 9.2% of the diet, and seeds comprised 15.4 ± 9.2% (Monadjem 1997b). Hagenah et al. (2009) demonstrated that it prefers the most abundant grass species occurring in its habitat and not necessarily the highest quality species, and suggested that the arthropod component of the diet may contribute significantly to meet the nutritional requirements of the species. In Hluhluwe, it mostly fed on two low-quality bunch grass species, Sporobolus africanus (69%), and Eragrostis curvula (21%), whereas, in iMfolozi, it predominantly fed on the high-quality lawn grass species Urochloa mosambicensis (77%) and Themeda triandra, a lower-quality bunch grass species, comprised the remainder of its diet (13%). Grass species composition is therefore unlikely to be a limiting factor in the diet of this species. Its most important habitat requirement is probably dense ground cover of long grass as it breeds in surface grass nests (Monadjem 1997a, 2013; Taylor 1998).
Ecosystem and cultural services: Preyed on by Black-shouldered Kites (Elanus caeruleus) and Barn Owls (Tyto alba) (Monadjem 2013).
