CAPITONID^ BAKBATULA 167 



yellow streaks ; rump and upper tail-coverts sulphur-yellow ; 

 wing-quills and coverts black, washed externally with golden- 

 yellow ; a few of the inner secondaries with sulphur-yellow 

 edges ; tail black with sulphur-yellow edges ; ear-coverts and 

 cheeks black and white ; below, sulphur- yellow throughout ; 

 under wing-coverts and inner lining of the quills white. 



Iris dark brown ; bill black ; legs and feet dark greenish-ash. 



Length about 5-5 ; wing 2-35 ; tail 1-40 ; culmen 040 ; 

 tarsus 0-70. 



The sexes are alike in colour, but the female is a little smaller. 



Distribution. — The Tinker bird is found in the eastern portion 

 of the Colony, Natal and Zululand, and appears to be chiefly con- 



FiG. 55. — Barbatula pusilla. x 



fined to the low-lying forests and districts near the coast. It is 

 recorded from Grahamstown (Layard), Stockenstroom (Atmore), 

 East London (Rickards), and Port St. John's (S. A. Mus.) in the 

 Colony ; from Durban (Bt. Mus.), Pinetown (Ayres), Echowe and 

 St. Lucia Lake (Woodward) in Natal. 



Habits. — The Tinker bird derives its name from its loud 

 and monotonous note, which, with its metalhc ring, most nearly 

 resembles the tapping of a hammer on an anvil ; it is heard chiefly 

 at mid-day during the spring and summer ; in winter it is silent. 

 The voice of this bird is somewhat ventriloquial in character, so 

 that it is often difficult to locate it from sound alone. Although 

 fairly numerous it is seldom seen as it sits on the top of thick bushy 

 trees well out of sight. The Tinker bird feeds principally on fruits, 

 but also to a certain extent on insects ; the Woodwards found in 

 the stomach of one shot by them a waxy substance intermixed 

 with the remains of insects, probably bees and honey-comb. 



