318 THE AFRICAN BEEF-EATER. 



is a large comma-shaped patch of bare pink skin, the point of the comma being directed 

 towards the ear. The general color of the body, as well as the short and square-tipped tail, 

 which looks as if it had been snipped off abruptly by a pair of shears, is a very deep green, 

 "shot" with blue in certain lights, and sooty -black in others. 



ANOTHER curious group of this large family is known by the name of Buphaginse, i. e., 

 Beef-eaters, or Ox-peckers, a title which they have earned by their habits. They may be 

 easily known by their remarkably shaped bill, which is wonderfully adapted for the pecu- 

 liar duties which it has to perform. One of the most common species of this group is the 

 AFRICAN BEEF-EATER, a bird which is foun'd in great numbers both in Southern and West- 

 ern Africa. 



It generally assembles in flocks, and haunts the spots where cattle are kept, alighting 

 upon their backs and setting vigorously to work in digging from beneath their skins the larvae 



AFRICAN BEEF-EATER. Buphaga erythrorhynclM. 



of the bot-flies which burrow beneath the hide, and may often be seen on the backs of cattle 

 by means of the little hillock of skin which they raise. To extract these deeply-buried creat- 

 ures would seem to be a matter of considerable difficulty, but the Beef -eater manages the 

 matter easily enough, by fixing itself tightly on the animal' s back by means of its extremely 

 powerful claws, and working with its strong and oddly-shaped beak. Other animals besides 

 oxen are subject to the attacks of these insect foes, and are equally visited by the Beef -eater, 

 who pursues his beneficial avocation without the least opposition on the part of the suffering 

 animal. 



The general color of the African Beef -eater is a dull brown upon the whole of the upper 

 portions of the body, the chin, and the throat. The breast and abdomen are buff -colored, and 

 the upper and under tail-coverts are nearly of the same hue. The tail is wedge-shaped, and 

 of a grayish-brown color, warming into reddish-brown on the inner webs of the exterior 

 feathers. The basal half of the bill is rich orange, and the curiously squared extremity is 

 scarlet. The total length of the bird is between nine and ten inches. 



