- 7 ¥ ee, ie eh aw 
222 BIRDS OF SOUTH AFRICA. 
insects, from the minutest beetle to the scorpion, of which I have 
found specimens in its stomach ; it also occasionally eats soft seeds.” — 
Senor Anchieta has procured it at Caconda in Benguela. 
The bird may be described as follows. Above, blue as in M, 
explorator, but having a white eyebrow and the head and mantle 
more or less inclining to white ; on the under surface the blue colour 
is restricted to the throat as in M. rupestris and not, as in M. 
eaplorator, occupying the chest also; bill, bluish-black, the base of 
the gape yellow; legs and toes, bluish-black; iris, reddish-brown. 
Total length, 6°5 inches; culmen, 0:95; wing, 4°15; tail, 2°65; 
tarsus, 1:05. 
206. CossyPHA BICOLOR. Noisy Chat-Thrush. 
Bessonornis vociferans, Layard, B. 8. Afr. p. 130 (1867). 
This bird—which, from its singular cry, has acquired the name 
of “ Piet-Myn-Vrouw,” by which it is known to the colonists—is 
common in the Knysna and other forest districts, but is very 
difficult to procure, owing to its shy, retiring habits, and the 
thickets in which it lives. Its loud call may be heard on every 
side of the traveller, but not a single bird will show itself, and we 
only procured the few specimens which we did obtain, by remaining 
quiet in one spot and imitating their cry until one came within 
range; then the difficulty often was to avoid blowing ‘the bird to 
pieces, as the thickets are usually so dense, that the bird was almost 
within reach of the gun-barrel ere we saw it. 
It feeds upon worms and insects, and has the general habits of a 
Thrush. Le Vaillant says he found it also in Kaffraria. Mr. 
Rickard tells us that it occurs near East London, and we have seen ~ 
several specimens from Natal. Mr. Ayres says that in the latter 
colony they frequent the dense bush. ‘The food of these birds,” 
he writes, “consists of berries, small fruits, and insects. In their 
movements and attitudes they much resemble the English Red- 
breast, and they are particularly fond of chasing one another about.” 
Dr. Kirk met with the species in the Zambesi, and states that it was 
shot among the mango-trees at Shupanga. Mr. Andersson obtained 
a single example of this Chat-Thrush at Otjimbinque in Damara 
Land on the 11th of December, 1865, but it does not appear to have 
