

100 BUCEROTID.E 



Swellendam, Oudtshoora (Victoria), George and Knysiia (Layard), 

 Port Elizabeth and East London (Eickard), Willowmore (Atmore), 

 and Middelburg (S. A. Mus.) ; Natal Maritzburg (Fitzsimmons), 

 Hlabisa and Ulundi in Zululand (Woodward) ; Transvaal Eusten- 

 burg (Ayres) ; Bechuanaland Makalapsi river near Shoshong 

 (Gates), Tati river (Holub) ; Portuguese east Africa Zumbo and 

 Chicowa on tbe Zambesi (Alexander). 



Habits. The Eed-faced Mouse-bird does not differ from the 

 other Mouse-birds in. habits. It is gregarious in flocks of from six 

 to twelve individuals ; it feeds on berries and fruits ; its flight is 

 rapid, straight and short, and it climbs and crawls about amid thick 

 bush; its cry is shrill and somewhat resembles its native Zulu 

 name according to the Woodwards. The latter authors also describe 

 a nest found in the fork of a thorn tree near the Umhlatusi river in 

 Zululand. It was composed of wild cotton in seed, an inch thick, 

 on a platform of thorny twigs. The eggs, three in number, were 

 white, freckled and streaked with red. 



Holub found that this bird did well in captivity in a large cage 

 along with other birds, and fed best on oranges. 



^cPtxfc^o ^A^*^/&/^tin 



425a. Colius erythromelon lacteifrons. White-fronted Mouse-bird. 



Colius erythromelon7(nec VieilL), Gurney in Anderson's B. Damara- 



land, p. 203 (1812). 

 Colius lacteifrons, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xvii, p. 345 (1892) ; id. Hand- 



list Bds. ii, p. 146 (1900). 

 Colius indicus, var. lacteifrons, Fleck, Journ. Ornith. 1894, p. 395. 



Description. Eesembling 0. erythromelon typicus, but paler in 

 every respect and with a creamy- white forehead. 



Distribution. German south-west Africa, rare in Damaraland, 

 more abundant on the Okavango river. 



Family V. BUCEROTID^E. 



Bill large, or very large, usually bearing on the culmen an 

 elevation called a casque which is variously shaped and often as 

 long as the bill itself (though not so as a rule in South African 

 species) ; margins of the eyes furnished with strong eyelashes ; 



