TEXTOR ERYTIIROEIIYNCHUS. 



In the female the browii tint is more distinct than in the male ; in other 

 respect their colours are very similar. In young birds the general colour is a 

 dusky liver-brown, and the feathers of the breast and belly are in them 

 broadly margined with white. In adult specimens slight indications of such 

 white margins are often to be observed upon the feathers of the sides of the 

 breast and body. 



It was not till after we had passed to the northward of the 25th degree of south latitude that 

 we discovered this bird ; and if we are to believe the natives, it rarely extends its flight farther 

 to the southward, which they attribute to the scarcity of Buffaloes south of that parallel. 

 Wherever it was discovered it was always in attendance upon herds of the animals just 

 mentioned, and either flying over the members of which the group was composed, or else 

 perched upon the back of some individual animal. While perched, it appeared, generally, to 

 be employed in collecting articles of food from the hide ; and while so occupied it passed 

 quickly from one part of the Buffaloe to another, without the latter appearing to bestow the 

 slightest attention upon its movements. On opening the stomachs of the specimens we 

 procured we found, what we had been led to expect, namely, that its food consisted in part at 

 least of parasitical insects ; and that to obtain them it selected the company in which, as has 

 already been remarked, we always found it. According to the evidence of the natives, it also 

 frequently alights upon the ground, examines the excrement of the Buffaloe, and from it 

 collects certain articles of food. Sometimes a number of individuals were observed associated 

 with a herd of the quadrupeds in question, frequently only one or two, and on many occasions 

 we encountered troops of Buffaloes without even one in attendance. This bird, besides 

 being of service to its huge associates, by ridding them of many of the insects with which their 

 skins are infested, also performs for them another valuable service. On observing any unusual 

 appearance in the neighbourhood, its attention is immediately directed to it ; and if alarm is 

 eventually excited the bird flies up, upon which all the buft'aloes instantly raise their heads, 

 and endeavour to discover the cause which had led to the sudden departure of the sentinel. 

 If they are successful in the attempt, and see reason to fear for their own safety, they 

 take to flight in a body, and are accompanied by the birds who forewarned them of their 

 danger. On the herd again halting to feed, the birds return to their avocation, and pursue a 

 course similar to that we have just described, provided the like circumstances recur. 

 We never found this bird attaching itself to any quadruped but the Buffaloe, nor did we ever 

 find the latter with any other attendants, though we found in the country in which both 

 exist, two other birds in the habit of feeding upon parasitical animals, namely Buphaga 

 Africana and Erythrorhjncha. These restricted their visits exclusively to the Rhhioceros. 



