W/S-n^it, 



AFRICAN BEEF-EATER.— J5up;!«(7fi Afric&na. 



these deeply buried creatures would seem to be a matter of considerable difficulty, but the 

 Beef-eater manages the matter easily enough, by fixing itself tightly on the animal's back 

 by means of its extremely powerful claws, and working with its strong and oddly shaped 

 beak. Other animals beside oxen are subject to the attacks of these insect foes, and 

 are equally visited by the Beef-eater, who pursues his beneficial avocation without the 

 least opposition on the part of the suffering animal. 



The general colour of the African Beef-eater is a dull brown upon the whole of the 

 upper portions of the body, the chin, and the throat. The breast and abdomen are buff- 

 coloured, and the upper and under tail-coverts are nearly of the same hue. The tail 

 is wedge-shaped, and of a greyisli brown colour, warming into reddish brown on the 

 inner webs of the exterior feathers. The basal half of the bill is rich orange, and the 

 curiously squared extremity is scarlet. The total length of the bird is between nine 

 and ten inches. 



We now come to the true Starlings, or Sturninas, as they are scientifically termed. 

 In these birds the bill is almost straight, tapering and elongated, slightly flattened at the 

 top, and with a hardly perceptible notch. Two examples of tliis group are found in 

 England, the first and rarest of which is the Eose-coloueed Pastor. 



Although of rare occurrence in England, these birds are very common in many other 

 countries, and in some parts of India are so numerous that forty or fifty have been killed 

 at a single shot, and they are said by the agriculturists to be hardly less destructive than 

 locusts. Like the common Starling, the Eose-coloured Pastor always flies in flocks, and 

 seems to possess many of the habits which belong to the beef-eaters, perching on the 

 backs of cattle and feeding on the parasitic irisects and grabs which are generally found 

 in such situations. On account of this habit of frequenting the cattle-field and the 

 sheep-fold, the bird has received the title of Pastor, or shepherd. It feeds chiefly on 

 insects, but in the autumn months varies its diet with ripe fruits. 



The Kose-coloured Pastor possesses a rather flexible voice ; its ordinary cry is rather 

 harsh and grating, but the bird is able to modulate its voice so as to imitate the tones of 

 variou,'^ other n-fbmbers of the feathered tribe. One of these birds, that was domesticated 



