from Natal, with the following note : “ It was a great piece of luck
my getting this nest, as they generally breed in such abominably out-
of-the-way places. Mr. Ayres tells me he never has been able to get
one. I got one on the ledge of a precipice on the ‘ TJmhlalunan 5
River about three or four miles from us. I found it while out
shooting, but it was of course too high to get at, so I brought a
ladder to the spot, and after piling up stones in the river, and
adding long pieces of bush-wood to the end of the ladder, we
managed to get at it. I found three eggs in the nest, all varying in
size and colour. The nest itself was formed of sticks on the outside
and lined with wool, rags, goats5 hair, &e., and smelt most
disgusting like the monkey cages in the Zoological Gardens.55
Adult. General colour above and below glossy black, without any
admixture of brown, excepting a slight shade on the inner secondaries
; head purplish brown-black; round the hinder neck a very
broad white collar; throat and fore neck dull brown, contrasting
with the rest of the under surface, from which it is separated by a
concealed band of white, the feathers composing which are either
edged with white or are pure white, sometimes with dark brown
centres; “ bill very dark brown, the tips of the mandibles of a white
horn-colour; legs and toes brownish black ; iris hazel-brown55
(Andersson). Total length, 18 inches; culmen, 2'95; wing, 15‘7;
tail, 7'1; tarsus, 2-06.
Young.~More dusky brown than the adult, the lower feathers of
the white neck-collar mesially streaked with brown; below with a
very distinct white collar across the chest, all the feathers of which,
however, are much mixed with brown.
Fig. Le Vaill, Ois. d5Afr. pi. 50.
Fam. STURNIDJE.
400. B uphaga africana, L. African Ox-pecker.
The present bird does not appear to enter within the limits of
the Cape Colony, but Great Namaqua Land and the neighbourhood
of the tropic seem to be its principal habitats. In its manners it
resembles the Starlings, but from the peculiar structure of its bill
for extracting “ bots,55 and other parasitic insects feeding upon cattle,
it is constantly found perching upon them, and clinging to them
by means of its sharp and curved claws. We have no record of its
capture in Natal, but in the Transvaal, according to Mr. Ayres, it is
common from the Mariqua all along the Limpopo, but is not found
near Potchefstroom. Mr. T. E. Buckley procured specimens in
Matabele Land, and Dr. Exton found it not uncommon throughout
the latter country, frequenting the Rhinoceros, and being called by
the hunters the “ Rhinoceros Bird 55—the Matabele name, according
to the last named observer, is ‘ Umblanda.5 The late Mr. Frank
Oates procured it on the Semokwe River. Mr. Andersson says that
he only observed this species in the middle districts- of the Damara
country. “ It is generally met with in small flocks, which visit the
cattle in search of the larvae and ‘ ticks5 with which their hides are
often abundantly supplied; and indeed I never saw these birds,
except when they were occupied in thus searching for insects, though
Livingstone has recorded his having met with flocks of this species,
and of its congener, B. erythrorhyncha, roosting on reeds in spots
where neither tame nor wild animals were to be found.55 Mr. Monteiro
states that it is common all over Angola, and Senor Anchieta has
found it at Humbe on the River Cunene, as well as at Oapangombe
in Benguela. I t is a well-known species from both North-eastern
Africa and Senegambia.
Mr. Ayres writes :—“ Is not this bird rightly named Buphaga ?
During our stay in the bush Ox-peckers appeared in numbers
about our oxen, and actually ate large holes in the fleshy part
of their backs, often one or two inches deep, and two or three
inches in diameter, thus creating bad sores. They do this little by
little, and day by day; and though it is annoying to the ox, I
cannot say that it seems to feel it much. The birds attack just that
part of the back where the ox cannot swish them off with its tail or
dislodge them with its horns. They especially infest those oxen
which have lost their tails by inoculation for the lung disease. I
had previously thought that these birds only ate the parasitical
insects common to cattle and game. This species is a pest to the
hunter, of whose approach it warns the Buffalo and Rhinoceros by
its loud harsh note, which is perfectly understood by its huge
friends. I have not seen any holes picked by these birds in the
Buffalo or other game, but only in cattle.55
Mr. Andersson5s note does not give the Buphaga the bad character
assigned to it by Mr. Ayres, which, however, we have heard
confirmed by many other South African travellers. He writes :
“ The arrival of these birds is announced by a sharp cry; and the
next moment they may be seen in a little flock descending fearlessly
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