CAPITONID.E BARBATULA 169 



I 



loud for so small a bird." On another occasion he states that Mr. 

 Lucas found a nest of this barbet containing young ones in 

 December. The birds had bored a hole in the rotten branch of 

 a tree for a nesting place. 



' rxOl^-J^ 



ru/c^A v. 

 457. Barbatula bilineata.. White-browed Tinker. 



Megaltema bilineata, Sundev. Ofvers. K. Vet. Akad. Forhandl. 1850, 

 p. 109; Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 234 (1867). 



Barbatula bilineata, M.raln(U, Monogr. Capit. p. 125, pi. 50, fig. 2 

 (1871) ; Sharjje, ed. Layard's B. S. Afr. p. 176 (1876) ; W. Ayres, 

 Ibis, 1887, p. 52 [Oliphant's river] ; Shelley, Cat. B. M. xix, p. 44, pi. 

 iii, fig. 2 (1891) ; id. B. Afr. i, p. 128 (1896) ; Sliarpe, Ibis, 1897, 

 p. 500 [Zululand] ; Woodward Bros. Natal B. p. Ill (1899) ; id. 

 Ibis, 1900, p. 521. 



Description. Adult. Crown of the head and back black ; rump 

 rich golden-yellow almost concealing the black upper tail-coverts ; 

 wings and tail black, the median and greater coverts, wing- and tail- 

 quills all edged with sulphur-yellow; streak through the eye and 

 ear-coverts black, bordered above and below by a white streak 

 above and below the eye, the latter meeting its fellow on the fore- 

 head above the bill ; a malar stripe of black separates this latter 

 from the ashy- white throat and fore neck ; rest of the under surface 

 sulphur yellow, paler on the flanks and under tail-coverts ; axillaries, 

 under wing-coverts and inner lining of the quills white. 



Bill black ; legs and feet ash colour. 



Length about 4-0 ; wing 2-20 ; tail 1-40 ; culmen 0-45 ; tarsus 

 0'68. Sexes alike. 



Distribution. This bird was first procured many years ago by 

 Wahlberg in Lower Caffraria ; it was not again met with till 1885, 

 when it was found by Mr. W. Ayres on the extreme north-east 

 boundary of the Transvaal, near the Oliphant river. Eecently the 

 Woodwards have secured a good many specimens in Zululand, at 

 Echowe, Umgoye, Umlalas river and St. Lucia Lake. 



Beyond our limits it is recorded from Mt. Chiquaqua in 

 Nyasaland. 



Habits. Mr. W. Ayres found a pair of these little birds flying 

 round about a tall acacia tree hunting insects. The Woodwards 

 state that they are more conspicuous than the common Tinker bird, 

 as they frequently come out into the sunshine and search the 

 foliage of trees for food. Their note closely resembles that of the 

 commoner species. 



