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G i r n r . s IX. B E E F - E A T E R.
N° i. African Beef-eater.
BIL L ftrong, thick, ftrait, nearly fquare: upper mandible a
little protuberant; on the lower a large angle.
Tongue..
Toes, three before, one behind; the middle connected to the
©utmoft as far as the firft joint.
Buphaga. Africana, Lin. Syjl. i. 154.' N° r.
Le Pic boeuf, Br if. orn, ii. 437. N° 1. t. 42, f. 2.
-........... . Bu f. oif. iii. p. 175. t. 14.—PI. enl. 293:.
HE fize of this bird is that of the crefted Lark : length eight
inches and a half. Colour above grey brown, beneath and
rump dirty yellow : the bill is in fqme yellowilh, with the end
red, in others brown . it is in figure nearly fquare, and ten lines
in length : the tail is wedge-fhaped ; all the feathers are pointed
at the end; the.fide feathers are rufous on the infide margins :
legs and claws brown.
Inhabits Senegal; where this bird is laid to be very fond of the
larvae of infefts, which are enclofed under the fkin, on the backs
of the oxen, and alighting on thefe animals, picks them out with
the bill, in the fame manner as the Magpie fettles on the backs
of Iheep, in this country, to pick out the ticks.
Brijfon feems to be the only one who has feen this bird ; from
whom, and the Planches enluminées, we have taken our figure.
G enus
BEAEFFR-EICAATNER .
P l . XII.
D e s c r i p t io n ,
P la ce and
M a nne r s .