TEXTOR ERYTHRORHYNCHUS. 445 
parts pure white; bill pale horn colour; total length, 54 inches; 
culmen, }; wing, 31; tail, 2}. 
M. Guillemard has published the following note on the species :— 
“Tn the male, the entire head, cheeks, chin, throat, and neck are a 
brilliant orange red, the lowest feathers of which at the nape are 
slightly tipped with black. Whole of under surface dirty white ; 
back brown, with a slight surface tinge of greenish yellow; wings 
brown, the outer webs of primaries and secondaries being edged with 
canary yellow, as are also the outer webs of the tail feathers, though 
faintly; iris reddish brown; legs brown; bill yellowish. Female 
similar, except that the brilliant head of the male bird becomes in her 
a dirty greenish yellow. Length, 5inches; wings, 3} inches; tail, 2 
inches. The nest, composed of dried leaves, small sticks and grass, was 
a curious structure, inasmuch as the dependent mouth was bell-shaped 
and larger than the top of the nest in which the eges were laid. The 
latter, two in number, I have unfortunately lost. They were of an entire 
blue colour. The nest, taken in the month of December, was built at 
the end of a mimosa branch, and was some distance from any water, 
Fig. Elliot, Ibis. 1876, pl. xiii, fig. 2. 
433. 'TEXTOR ERYTHRORHYNCHUS, Smith. 
Red-billed Black Weaver Bird. 
This species is easily recognized by its red bill, and it is dis- 
tinguished from the other species of the genus T'extor by having the 
basal half of the under surface of the primaries white. It is not 
found in the Cape Colony, and Sir Andrew Smith procured it after 
passing the 25th deg. of south latitude, frequenting herds of 
buffaloes, and perching on their backs in search of the parasitical 
insects which infest their hides. We have received it from Kalahari 
desert through the late Mr. Moffatt. ‘In the Transvaal,” writes Mr. 
Ayres, “this finch inhabits the bush and is not, so far as I know, 
ever found in the open country. We met with but few of them, and 
then always in company with the little blue Hoopoe (Jrrisor 
cyanomelas) in twos and threes. The stomach of the bird sent con- 
tained insects; but berries, seeds, and fruits were not to be had at 
that season, our trip being in mid-winter.” Mr. T. E. Buckley met 
with the species in Bamangwato, and the late Mr, Frank Oates 
procured several specimens at Tati, and also near the first Makalaka 
Kraal ou the Zambesi road. This gentleman shot a specimen out of a 
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