164 CAPITONID^ STACTOL^MA 



Smilorhis leucotis, Sharpe, ed Laya/rd's B. S. Afr. p. 177 (1876) ; 

 Shelley, Cat. B. M. xix, p. 37 (1891) ; id. B. Afr. i, p. 127 (1896) ; 

 Woodward Bros, and Sharpe, Ibis, 1897, pp. 402, 420, 500 

 [Zululand] ; Woodward Bros. Natal B. p. 110 (1899). 



Description. Adult. — Head and nape, ear-coverts, chin and 

 throat black, the shafts of the frontal feathers stiff and shining ; 

 mantle brown ; wings and tail dusky-brown ; rump and upper tail- 

 coverts black, white at the sides ; a white band from behind the 

 eye to the sides of the neck ; upper breast, sides of the body and 

 flanks brown, some of the feathers of the flanks dappled with white ; 

 lower breast, abdomen, under tail- and wing-coverts white ; quills 

 somewhat silvery below, the inner ones white on the inner webs. 

 Bill, without notch, black ; legs and feet black. 



Length about 6-25 ; wing 3.5 ; tail 2-10 ; culmen 0'60 ; tarsus 0-85. 



Distribution. — The type of this species was obtained by Wahlberg 

 in "Lower Caffraria" {i.e., Natal). The Woodwards noticed it 

 on the Tugela and lower Umfolosi rivers and at Echowe in 

 Zululand, and Peters many years ago at Inhambane in Portuguese 

 east Africa. Mr. Millar has an example obtained by his brother at 

 Barberton in the Transvaal. North of the Zambesi it is found in 

 Nyasaland. 



Habits.- — The White-eared Barbet appears to be a rare bird, at 

 any rate in collections. The Woodwards, who are the only collectors 

 who have recorded any observations on its habits, state that it flies 

 about the taller trees in small parties uttering a loud and sonorous 

 cry. It chiefly affects the thorn country. 



453. Stactolsema sowerbyi. Sowerby's Barbet. 



Staotolsema sowerbyi, Sharpe, Bull. B. 0. C. vii, p. 36 (Febr. 1898) ; id. 



Ibis, 1898, p. 297. 

 Smilorhis sowerbyi, Sowerby and Sharpe, Ibis, 1898, p. 572, pi. 12, fig. 1. 



Description. — General colour above, brown, wings blackish-brown 

 with whitish margins to the quills ; tail ashy ; forehead and occiput 

 pale sulphur-yellow ; feathers below the eye and ear-coverts hoary- 

 white ; chin white, throat and fore-breast blackish, becoming paler 

 posteriorly, some of the feathers tipped with white ; tibial feathers 

 white. 



Length 6-6 ; wing 3-75 (Sharpe). 



Distribution. — This species was first obtained by Mr. Sowerby in 



