Birds from British East Africa. 50!) 



114. Iruisor erythrohhynchus. Ked- billed Wood- 

 Hoopoe. 



Irrisor erythrorhynchus (Lath.) . 



Iris brown ; bill red ; feet coral-red. 



The Red-billed Wood- Hoopoes are not particularly shy 

 birds and I was twice able to watch them hunting for cater- 

 pillars and insects on the trunk and boughs of a large tree. 

 They run up and down the stem exactly like a Woodpecker 

 does, occasionally head downwards, and every now and then 

 give a kind of jump upwards, using the tail as a means 

 of support, but not their wings ; possibly this is the reason 

 why nearly all those we shot had ragged tails. We used to 

 see them in flocks of from six to eight, or less, and when 

 leaving a tree they hardly ever all fly off together, but 

 generally singly. They are very noisy birds, which chatter 

 loudly, and are said to possess a very disagreeable smell, 

 but 1 never detected anything the least unpleasant. 



115. Rhinopomastus CABANisi. Cabanis's Wood-Hoopoe. 

 Rhinopomastus cabanisi de Fil. 



Iris brown; bill yellow, tip black; legs black. 



Cabanis's Wood-Hoopoe was a rare bird and only seen on 

 one occasion, when one was shot out of a little flock of four 

 which flew out of a tree near the Gerei River; the remaining 

 three were very shy and would not let me approach within 

 gunshot again ; it has an undulating dipping flight like a 

 Bee-eater, and the flock that I pursued were silent. 



116. Cypselus APFiNis. Wliitc-rumped Swift. 

 Cypselus ajinis Socage. 



Bill and legs black. 



The White-rumped Swift was found breeding on the 

 precipices of Longonot, near Naivasha, in company with 

 C. (jequatorialis. Their nests, which I was able to look into 

 with my glasses but not to reach, were apparently made 

 almost entirely of saliva ; at any rate they look distinctly 

 semitransparent and as if they were made out of horn ; they 

 were lined with feathers and I certainlv saw eggs in two 



