8 Mr. C. F. M. Swynnerton on the 



4. BuPHAGA AFRicANA. Yellow-billcd Oxpecker. 



Rh., P. This bird is called by tbe Amanguni "Ilanda," 

 and by the Abandao " Ideira-ngombe" {i.e. " Ox-follower ^^j^ 

 in allusion to its well-known habits. 



5. Amydrus morio. Red-winged Starling. 



Rh., P. Our commonest Starling, but at all times very 

 local, being found in any portion of the district that offers 

 the best food-supply at the moment. Throughout June and 

 July 1906 its pleasing notes ''Peoo ! peoo V or occasionally 

 in flying " Chechipeoo ! chechipeoo ! " might be heard in 

 and about Chirinda, where the ripening of the '^ Chisipi " 

 crop of figs was the chief attraction in June, while later it 

 took to following the locust-swarms in large flocks. On July 

 30th I noted a pair in the Jihu. The birds again appeared 

 at Chirinda on September 2ndjand on the 8th I noted them 

 on the Inyamadzi and on Mount Umtereni (Mafusi). In 

 April of this year a large flock was haunting the neighbour- 

 hood of Melsetter itself; while in September 1906 I found 

 numbers of them nesting in the crags of the Chimanimani 

 Mountains. 



A male captured last July, with a broken wing, shewed 

 very little fear, readily taking locusts, grubs, and pieces of 

 orange through the bars of its cage. Its " Peoo " was 

 used, I noticed, both as a call and as a note of alarm when 

 frightened. Length in the flesh (of a male) 12*9 inches. 



6. Lamprocolius melanogaster. Black-bellied Glossy 

 Starling. 



P. I noted this bird on December .5th at Gezanye, 

 between Chibabava and the Madanda forests and nearly 

 ninety miles from the coast [cf. Shelley, B. Afr. v. p. 84), 

 and again on the following day in the Brachysie^ia-woods 

 bordering the rubber-forests at Arucate. Both were single 

 individuals, probably breeding males. The length of my 

 specimen in the flesh was 8"9 inches, and its irides shewed 

 two distinct rings of colour, the inner bright gamboge, 

 the outer orange. The stomach contained a smallish snail 

 and fruits, apparently of C/crodendroii inyr'icoides. 



