402 ZOOLOGY. 



up and down their sides, searching for parasites, especially 

 Ixodes, on which it feeds, and frequently appearing to 

 defy the attempts of the animal to induce it to leave. 

 The number of ticks which assail both wild and domestic 

 animals in Abyssinia, especially in the rainy season, is 

 astonishing; not even the thick hard hide of the Rhino- 

 ceros is proof against them, though the species found 

 upon him appears to be peculiar. I did not, how- 

 ever, notice this bird on a Ehinoceros, or any other 

 wild animal. 



Buphaga erythrorhyncha is found both on the high- 

 lands and near the coast. It is more abundant in the 

 former. The noise is much like that of a Starling 

 or Myna. 



194. Textor alecto, Temm. 



Temminck, PI. Col. 446.— Riipp. Syst. Uebers. No. 257.— Heugl. 

 Joum. f. Orn. 1867, p. 366. 



Legs dusky, horn-coloured ; bill black, the basal portion 

 in adults (males) only covered with a fleshy cere, pale 

 yellow in colour. 



I saw this bird only on the Anseba. It is quite 

 in its habits and flight, and belongs, I think, 

 ily rather to the FringillidcB. I frequently 

 saw it associating with Lamprotornis ceneus, Lampro- 

 colius chalyhcBus, and L. chrysogaster, hunting for insects 

 on the ground, especially about cattle-pens. The massive 

 nests are not unlike those of Sturnopastor contra. All 

 which I saw were in high acacia-trees, but the breeding 

 season was over long before July. 



