Birds of South Africa 243 



tribe, 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 also seeks for food on the 

 ground, in the same manner as the golden-winged woodpecker 

 (Colaptes auratus) of North America ; its flight also struck me as 

 being very similar to that of the American bird." Mr Darwin also 

 describes a true woodpecker in South America, which is never seen 

 upon a tree, for there are no trees on the bare lands which it 

 frequents ; and yet, if one general structure or conformation more 

 than another would seem to be expressly modified for peculiar 

 and exclusively arboreal habits, it is assuredly and most emphati- 

 cally that of a woodpecker ! 



We incline to regret that our author has not favoured us with 

 some slight notices of the anatomy of those very peculiar genera, 

 Irrisor, Indicator, and Colius, which would have been exceedingly 

 acceptable, as elucidating the disputed affinities of those isolated 

 forms. The first we believe to be closely related to the Bucerotidai 

 or hornbills, the second to the Picidfe or woodpeckers, and the third 

 to appertain strictly to the family Musophagidae or the touracos, 

 more especially approximating certain species of Schizornis, 

 which even resemble the colies in the disposition of the toes, as 

 well as in the texture and colouring of the plumage. Irrisor is 

 included under Upupidas by Mr Layard, and there is no doubt of 

 the affinity of the hoopoes for the hornbills, the irrisors holding an 

 intermediate position. Of Irrisor erythrorhynchus he writes : — 



" This bird inhabits the Forests of the Knysna, and extends as far as the Great 

 Lake. It frequents high trees, about the topmost branches of which it hunts 

 unceasingly for insects. Its voice is harsh and resounding, and has acquired for 

 it the name of kackela among the Dutch, which signifies ' the chatterer.' It is a 

 difficult bird to shoot, being very sliy and wary, and for ever whisking round 

 on its perch, taking special care, however, of its long tail, by lifting it over the 

 branches. Its motions at these times reminded me very much of the habits of 

 the coucals or ' pheasant -cuckoos' (Centropus). I never saw or heard of one of 

 these birds being observed on the ground. The residents in the Knysna dis- 

 trict informed me that these birds breed in hollow trees, and that their eggs 

 were pure white and round." 



The predatory habits of Indicator minor, if not of the other 

 species of this genus, have already been mentioned, as also the 

 fact of I. major clinging to the upright branch of a tree in the 

 manner of a woodpecker. . Mr Layard describes three species, I- 

 major, I. variegatus, and I. minor ; but the genus is not quite 



