washed with olive and minutely spotted with yellowish white; quills
brown, externally golden olive and having golden shafts, all of them
externally spotted with yellowish white, producing rather a barred
appearance on the inner secondaries ; upper tail-coverts washed with
golden yellow and barred across like the rump; tail dark brown, all
the feathers with bright golden shafts and yellow tips, crossed with
lighter bars of golden brown, the inner webs notched with whitish
and the outer webs spotted with the latter colour also, especially the
small spurious one, which is regularly barred across with whitish;
crown greyish, the feathers tipped with crimson, the occipital crest
bright crimson; feathers round the eye blackish; nasal bristles, lores
and a broad band below the eye embracing the ear-coverts white,
the latter minutely spotted or streaked with black, especially near
the upper margin; a short malar streak of crimson-tipped feathers
not reaching much beyond the hinder line of the eye; hinder cheeks
white, minutely spotted with black; throat and chest for the most
part black, spotted with white, the plumes of the fore-neck with
margins of yellowish white, more or less encroaching on the black
centres, and in some instances forming a cross-bar; rest of under
surface of body yellowish white, the breast distinctly streaked with
black, the flanks barred with the same; under tail-coverts whitish
with a few irregular spots or streaks of dull black; under wing-
coverts yellowish white with very distinct rows of . large blackish
spots, forming bars on the greater series; quills brown below, “with
large yellow notches on the inner web, the shafts golden ; “ bill
bluish brown; legs and toes greyish green; iris pink wine-colour ”
(Andersson). Total length, 9 inches; culmen, 1'25; wing, 4 '8 ;
tail, 3T ; tarsus, 0'9.
Female.—Similar to the male, but apparently never so black on
the throat, and having the crown black with tiny round spots of
white, the occipital crest only crimson.
Fig. Malherbe, Monogr. Pic. ii. pi. 93.
166. Campe theba notata. Knysna Woodpecker.
Campethera nubiea, Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 238.
This species is distinguished from the other South African Woodpeckers
by its thickly spotted under-surface, which is covered with
large black spots from the chin to the vent. We have received
specimens from Mr. Henry Bowker from the Transkei, and from
Mr. Arnott at Oolesberg. Mr. H. Atmore has collected it at
George, and Le Yaillant cites the George forests and the Gamtoos
river as habitats for the species. Mr. Andersson also procured it at
the Knysna; it is found about Graham’s Town, and was sent to us
by Mr. T. Atmore from Elands’ Post. Le Yaillant states that it lays
four eggs marked with brown on a bluish ground, and Mrs. Barber
informs us that it is the foster parent of Coccystes jacobinus.
Adult mule.—Olive-green above, with indistinct small transverse
bars and a few diamond-shaped subterminal spots of paler olive
yellow; quills brown, externally olive near the base, the secondaries
olive-brown, duller than the back, transversely barred with yellowish
white, the primaries externally spotted with yellow, notched on
the inner web with white, the shafts brown; tail olive-brown,
shaded with greenish, and crossed with six bars of yellowish, the
tips of the feathers dull golden, the shafts golden brown; head
greyish black, all the feathers tipped with scarlet, the occipital crest
entirely bright scarlet; lores yellowish, minutely spotted with black;
ear-coverts whitish, streaked with black ; fore part of cheeks scarlet,
forming a small moustache, the rest of the sides of the face and sides
of neck yellowish white, thickly mottled with black, the feathers
being black with a narrow whitish edging; entire under surface of
body yellowish, white on the throat, thickly spotted with black, the
spots rounded and very large on the breast, rather more diamond-
shaped on the abdomen, the flanks barred with dusky black ; under
wing-coverts yellow spotted with black like the breast; iris hazel.
Total length, 8'5 inches; culmen, 1T0; wing, 4T5; tail, 3-2 ;
tarsus, 0-9.
Adult female.— Similar to the male, but having the head black
minutely spotted with white, the occiput only scarlet.
Fig. Malherbe, Monogr. Pic.«ii. pi. 95.
167. G eqcolaptes olivaceus. Ground Woodpecker.
Golaptes olivaceus, Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 239.
This singular bird presents a remarkable instance of the adaptation
of creatures to the localities wherein their lot is cast. Though
belonging to the Woodpecker family, it never pecks wood, but bores
its way into the banks of rivers, sides of hills, or the walls of mud-
buildings, in search of its prey, and for a home for its young. It