CAPITONIDiE LTBIUS 159 



of the Colony from Grahamstown onwards through Natal and the 

 Transvaal as far as Kanye in Bechuanaland and northwards to 

 Mashonaland and the Zambesi valley ; beyond our limits it occurs 

 in Angola and Nyasaland, but is replaced by a closely-allied species 

 in German east Africa. 



South African localities are as follows : Cape Colony — Albany 

 (Ivy), Stockenstroom (Atmore), Peddie (S. A. Mus.), East. London 

 (Eickards), Port St. John's (S. A. Mus.) ; Natal— Durban (Bt. Mus.), 

 Pinetown (Shelley), Ladysmith (Harkness), Echowe and St. Lucia 

 Lake (Woodward) ; Transvaal — Swaziland (Buckley in Bt. Mus.), 

 Barberton (Eendall), Komatipoort (Francis in S. A. Mus.), Pretoria 

 and Eustenburg dist. (Barratt); Bechuanaland— Kanye (Exton) ; 

 Rhodesia — Umfuli river (Ayres), Salisbury dist. (Marshall) ; Portu- 

 guese east Africa — Tete and Shupanga (Kirk in Bt. Mus.), Zumbo 

 (Alexander). 



Habits. — The Black-collared Barbet is found singly or in pairs 

 about large trees towards the edges of woods, and generally near 

 water ; it also frequents gardens and farm-houses, and is bold and 

 fearless. It has a loud harsh note, " Kook Koorroo," repeated eight 

 or nine times in succession. The male and female often perch close 

 to one another and answer each other in turn ; as they give vent 

 to their loud cry they bob their heads up and down in a most 

 comical fashion as if bowing to one another. The flight is headlong 

 and swift. This Barbet appears to subsist chiefly on fruit and 

 berries, which it swallows whole, and it is for this purpose that it 

 visits gardens. Woodward states that it also devours insects in 

 considerable numbers. 



Like a Woodpecker it makes round holes in the trunks of trees 

 in which to deposit its eggs; a clutch of three taken by Mr. A. D. 

 Millar at Umgeni, near Durban, on December 10, is preserved 

 in the South African Museum. They are pure white, somewhat 

 elongated ovals, and measure 0'96 x 0'69. 



According to Mr. Ivy the eggs appear to be sometimes laid 

 before the nest-hole is ready, as he found in November, below a 

 decayed willow tree overhanging a stream, four eggs quite fresh 

 and obviously just deposited, while a pair of birds were boring away 

 into the trunk above. 



