CAPITONIDiE 



TRACHYPHONUS 



171 



lower breast streaked with crimson and the lower tail- coverts also 

 tinged with the same colour ; under wing-coverts and inner lining 

 of the quills ashy-white. 



Iris reddish-brown to blood-red ; bill light yellowish-green tipped 

 with bluish or dusky ; legs and feet dusky-ash. 



Length about 8-0 ; wing 3-8 ; tail 3'15 ; culmeu 0-<J5 ; tarsus I'l. 



In the female the black pectoral band is not so broad, and the 

 red streaks on the lower breast are less marked ; the dimensions 

 are about the same. 



Fig. 56.— Trachyplionus cafer. x \. 



Distribution. — Levaillant's Barbet appears to be most abundant 

 in the Eustenburg division of the Transvaal, whence it extends to 

 Bechuanaland, Ehodesia, and Natal, where, however, it appears to 

 be rare. It has recently been obtained from Nyasaland and has 

 once occurred in southern Angola. 



The following are recorded localities: Natal — Weenen(Bt. Mus.), 

 Verulam and Echowe (Woodward) ; Transvaal — Lydenburg dist. 

 (Francis in S. A. Mus.), Eustenburg (Ayres and Barratt); Bechuana- 

 land — Kanye (Exton), Boatlenami (Ayres) ; Ehodesia — Hanyani 

 river (Marshall) ; Portuguese east Africa — Tete (Kirk). 



Habits. — Levaillant's Barbet is not a shy bird though quiet and 

 not often noticed ; it is generally found in thick bush whence its 

 loud and peculiar note can be sometimes heard ; Ayres compared 

 this to an alarum clock going off and constantly repeated every few 

 minutes. Sometimes the bird sits on a conspicuous dead branch to 

 go through this performance, and can be seen to jerk its body forward 

 and throw up its bill when producing this sound. Like other 

 Barbets it has a mixed diet consisting of fruits and berries, leaves 

 and insects ; Marshall obtained one feeding on the ground among 



