BUPHAGA AFRICANA 23 



Genus BUPHAGA. 



Type. 

 Buphaga, Linu. S. N. i. p. 15-4 (1766) B. africana. 



KEY TO THE SPECIES. 



a. Bill yellow, with the end red ; rump and upper tail- 

 coverts ocbraceous buff africana. 



h. Bill entirely red ; rump and upper tail-coverts greyish 



brown, paler towards the back erythrorhyncha. 



Buphaga africana. 



Buphaga africana, Linn. S. N. I. p. loi (1766) Senegal ; Gray, Gen. B. ii. 

 p. 332, pi. 8-2 (18i7) ; Sbarpe, Cat. B. M. xiii. p. 195 (1890) ; Shelley, 

 B. Afr. I. No. 576 (1896) ; Beichea. Yog. Afr. ii. p. 666 (1903). 



Le Pique-boeuf, LevaiU. Ois. Afr. ii. p. 198, pi. 97 (1799) Great Namaqua. 



Adult. General plumage brown, shading into sandy buff on the lower 

 half of the back, tail-coverts and breast ; a shade of rufous on the inner 

 webs of the outer four pairs of tail-feathers. " Iris yellowish red ; bill yellow, 

 with the end portion red; feet black " (Buckley). Total length 9-3 inches, 

 culmen 0-7, wing 5-0, tail 4-0, tarsus 0-9. <? , 25. 6. 67, Ovaquenyana 

 (Andersson) and ? , 23. 9. 73, Matabele (Buckley), wing •4-7. 



The Yellow-billed Ox-pecker ranges over Africa, south from 

 about 18" N. lat., with the exception of the forest districts 

 of West Africa, Cape Colony and the country eastward of a 

 line drawn from the middle Zambesi to Lake Tana. 



The habits of this species and of B. er/jthrorJujiicIia are 

 alike, and have been well described by Stark, as follows : 

 " This species is not so common near the coast of Natal and 

 East Africa, as the Ked-billed Ox-pecker, and appears to 

 follow the larger game in their retreat before civilised man. 

 It more particularly favours the buffalo and rhinoceros with 

 its company, and the majority of ' big-game ' hunters have 

 noticed this partiality. Mr. Andersson remarks in his 



