33 §



On Levaillant’’s Barbet.



on rotten peaches only. A bath and a good feed of live locusts,

white ants and grapes made them look different birds. They

were fairly tame and would take an insect from the hand with a

stealthy, Jay-like action ; and as a rule, after insects, they burst into

their very loud and peculiar note, which sounded something like

a hollow rattle and something like an alarum clock. This was

the song of thanks or joy. They had another squeaking rattle

when they saw strange dogs, and especially when they saw their

hated enemy, Timothy the Suricate. Timothy, poor fellow,

never bothered his head about them except to steal their locusts

or mealworms if he got the chance, but as long as he was in sight

they kept up their squealing rattle.


They were perfectly easy to feed and keep, but I found

them dangerous in a mixed aviary, and when I put a Meyer’s

Parrot in their large cage they would have killed him very

quickly had I not been watching. I fed them on white ants and

any living insects, fruit of all descriptions (they liked banana

best) and occasionally a little chopped cooked meat.


They are most susceptible to cold, and in winter I brought

them in at night, but all day they had the benefit of a sheltered

verandah and the warm South African sun. They always let one

know when they thought it time for bed b}' calling vigorously.

I had great difficulty in bringing them home, as they felt the

cold so much that I thought I should lose them. However, I

got them stowed in a room near the boilers as soon as we reached

Pas Palmas, and after that they did well; and as an electric bulb

was glowing permanently within a foot of their cage they fed

night and day. I have no aviaries and parted with one specimen

to Mr. Astley, and with the other to the Zoo, where it can be

seen in the Small Bird House next to an Indian Blue-throated

Barbet.


[This is, so far as I am aware, the first appearance of this species in

British aviculture.— Rd.]



