118 ORNAMENTS OF THE VELD 



one of the hosts of the Great Spotted Cuckoo (Coccystes 

 glandarius). 



OXPECKERS. 



The Oxpeckers (Bupliagince) are a sub-family of the 

 Sturnidae or Starlings. 



There are two species, brown in coloration, easily 

 distinguishable from one another by the following key of 

 Dr. Stark's :- 



a. Bill more robust ; yellow at the base, red 



at the point. Inner web of tail-feather 



rufous Bupliaga africana. 



b. Bill less robust ; entirely red. Inner web 



of tail-feathers, dark brown B. erytlirorliynclia. 



The latter is the commoner bird on the Natal coast, 

 being more local in the Transvaal. The former is the 

 more generally distributed bird of the two. 



They are known to the farmers as Tick-birds, on 

 account of their habit of climbing about cattle in search 

 for the parasitic pests which infest them. 



They nest in a natural hole in a tree, under the roof 

 of a house, or in a hole in a wall. Dr. Stark describes 

 their eggs as pale bluish-white, but Millar and Sparrow 

 state that those of the Bed-billed Oxpecker are spotted 

 with purplish-red. 



LARKS. 



The members of the Family Alaudida are all more 

 or less inhabitants of the veld proper, i.e., open down 

 country, and the slopes and crests of low kopjes and 

 are not found in forest tracts and the like. 



They are easily distinguished from any other " perch- 

 ing " birds (Passerine) by the rounded formation and 



