OICONIID^. 283 



[I have not met with this bird in Mr. Andersson's collections ; 

 but a characteristic drawing of it from the pencil of Mr. Baines 

 was comprised in the portfolio of South-west African ornitho- 

 logical sketches which Mr. Andersson possessed at the time of 

 his decease. — Ed.] 



ANASTOMATID^*. 



331. Anastomus lamelligerus, Temm. African Snail-eaterf. 



Anastonms UtmeUigerus, Temminck's PI. Col. pi. 236. 



„ „ Livingstone's Missionary Travels, pp. 252 



&494. 

 „ „ Layard's Oat. No. 601. 



This singular-looking bird is not uncommon in the 

 Lake-regions, and it is also common in Ondonga, where 

 it is found throughout the year. It roosts on trees, and 

 is sometimes found solitary, but more often in large 

 flocks. It feeds on fish, frogs, shells, &c. ; and I have 

 often found its crop and stomach crammed full of the 

 bodies of shells in the driest time of the year ; vehere 

 does it get them % It may be seen poking about on per- 

 fectly arid spots ; but neither there nor in moister places 

 have I been able to obtain a single shell by the closest 

 observation, or even by digging. 



The iris and also the bill are dark brown. 



* [Mr. Or. E. Gray, in his ' Hand-list of Birds,' pt. iii. p. 36, and other high 

 authorities regard the two species of Anastomus as forming a subfamily of 

 the Cicaniides ; but they seem to me to be sufficiently isolated and distinct 

 to form a separate family ; and I have therefore treated them as such. — Ed.] 



t [The name of " Snail-eater," or, rather, its Cingalese equivalent, is applied 

 in Ceylon to the allied eastern species Anastomiis oscitans (vide Layard on the 

 Ornithology of Ceylon, in the ' Annals of Natural History ' for 1854, vol. xiv. 

 p. 115) ; and I have considered the appellation appropriate for the African 

 species also (vide Livingstone, he. cit.). — Ed.] 



