26 



AFRICAN BARBET. 



green, glossed with copper : breast, belly, sides, 

 thighs, under wing and tail-coverts bright grey : 

 greater quills blackish : lesser quills dull green, 

 with a greenish copper gloss : the tail composed 

 of twelve feathers of equal lengths, above copper 

 and green gold, beneath black : legs reddish : 

 claws black. The beak of the female is above two 

 inches in length, and brown : head, throat, and 

 hind part of the neck, transversely striped with 

 brown and rufous : back and rump brown : the 

 upper tail-coverts, fore part of the neck, breast, 

 belly, sides, and under tail-coverts, inclining to 

 rufous, with a blackish spot near the end of every 

 feather : thighs and under wing-coverts plain : 

 lesser wing-coverts brown with rufous tips : greater 

 ones brown on the inner, and dull green on the 

 outer edge, margined and tipped with rufous : 

 quills as in the male, but duller : tail brown above, 

 rather rufous at the tip : legs reddish : claws 

 blackish. 



The female of this bird greatly exceeds the 

 male in length, being seventeen inches and a half 

 long, whereas the male is but fifteen. 



This species abounds in Caffraria and the ad- 

 joining country ; the male is called by the natives 

 Vouroug~driou 9 and the female Cromb, being by 

 them considered as distinct, in consequence of 

 their great dissimilarity : it is likewise found in 

 Madagascar. Its food consists principally of 

 fruits, but Le Vaillant found in their stomachs 

 the remains of half digested cicadse, mantides, 

 and locusts. 



