STURNID^. 1 75 



347. Buphaga Africana, Linn. ; B. Rufescens, 

 Vieill, Gal. des Ois., t, 93 ; Le Pique-hceuf, Le Vail,, 

 PI. 97. 



Greyish-brown; rump, breast, and body beneath, pale 



fulvous ; lateral tail-feathers, ferruginous , shafts strong, 



and somewhat rigid ; bill orange ; tip red. Length, 9^" ; 

 wing, 41". . 



Great Namaqualand and the neighbourhood of the tropic seem the 

 great habitats of this curious bird. In its manners it resembles the 

 starlings; but from the peculiar adaptation of its bill to extract " bots " 

 and other parasitic insects feeding upon cattle, it is constantly found 

 perching upon them. It must be getting rare, as I have never seen 

 a specimen in any collection that I have yet examined, except 

 Swainson's type in the Cambridge Museum. 



348. Buphaga Erythrorhyncha, Stanley; 



B. Habisinica, Ehrenb. Symb. Phys., t. 9 ; B. Afri- 

 canoides, Smith, Cent., Nat. His. S. Af, p. 12. 



Above, grey- brown ; tail brown ; the inner web of the exter- 

 nal feathers, rufescent ; wing-feathers black ; beneath, pale- 

 fulvous ; throat grey ; bill red. Length, 8f" : wing, 



4" 5'". 



Inhabits Natal. — Teste Verreaus ; Hartlaub, Orn. W. Af., p. 121 ; 

 and Ayres, Ibis. Vol. 1863, p. 328, non vidi. 



The Sub-Family, STURNINiE, or Starlings, 



have the bill more or less long, with the culmen curved, or 

 straight to the tip, which is obtuse, and somewhat flattened ; 

 the nostrils basal, placed in a membranous groove, and some- 

 times clothed with short feathers ; the wings moderate ; the 

 tail rather short, and even or rounded ; the tarsi rather long, 

 strong, and covered with broad scales ; the toes long and 

 strong ; and armed with strong, acute claws. 



Genus PASTOR, Temminck. 

 Bill rather short, with the culmen curved from the base, 

 and the sides compressed to the tip, which is rather acute, 

 and only slightly emargiuated, the lateral margins rather 

 curved, and the gonys long and ascending ; the nostrils 

 basal, lateral, and placed in a short broad groove, which is 

 membranous, and clothed with short feathers, with the 

 opening oval ; wings long and pointed, with the first quill 

 spurious, and the second the longest ; tail moderate and 

 even ; tarsi nearly as long as the middle toe, rather strong, 

 and covered with broad transverse scales ; toes long and 



