52 Mr. W. Ay res on Birds collected in the 



dead creepers, and are fond of hunting over old dead stumps, 

 around which they move almost as nimbly as a Woodpecker. 



388. K.HINOPOMASTES cYANOMELAs (VicilL). Scimitar- 

 billed Wood-hoopoe. 



Female, shot at Rovi-rand, June 10, 1885. 



These birds occur singly or in pairs ; though I have not 

 found them plentiful in any one locality, they have a wide 

 range, and I have met with them more or less wherever I 

 have travelled in the Transvaal. 



[The specimen sent was obtained just beyond the Trans- 

 vaal border ; hut, on the strength of Mr. Walter Ayres^s note, 

 I have included the species in the Transvaal enumeration. I 

 may add that in the present specimen there is no white on 

 the inner primary-coverts, and that in 'The Ibis^ for 1868, 

 p. 44, I recorded a male in which the white spot on these 

 coverts existed on one wing only, — J. H. G.] 



Centropus natalensis, Shelley. Natal Spur-heel Cuckoo. 



Male, shot May 30, 1885, at Tentie river, on the Transvaal 

 boundary. 



These birds are found in the thick reeds and underwood 

 growing along the streams ; they search for their food on the 

 ground, and depend for their safety more on their legs than 

 on their wings ; when once disturbed it is difficult to find 

 them again, as they hide away either on the ground or in 

 the dense underwood. 



I shot the specimen sent whilst it was creeping about in 

 the thick leaves of a wild palm-tree which grew on the edge 

 of the river. 



[The specimens referred by me to C. senegalensis in ' The 

 Ibis,^ 1871, p. 261, and 1881^, p. 225, were incorrectly named, 

 and are examples of C. natalensis, of which I now possess four 

 Transvaal skins. None of these show any trace of a white 

 eyebrow; this latter is evidently by no means a constant 

 character in this species. — J. H. G.] 



389. Barbatula bilineata, Sund. Bridled Barbet. 

 Male and female, shot 27th July, 1885, at Umzingeilla's, 

 near the Olifants and Maslmpau rivers (Transvaal). 



