This species is one of the smaller group of tooth-billed South-African Barbets, and is 
most nearly allied to P. diadematus and P. melanocephalus. Of these two the former has 
the chin and throat white ; the latter has the forehead black and the supercihary ray pure 
white ; but in all other respects they are similar to this species. 
The following account of its habits is extracted from Levaillant's work : — 
"They are very common in Africa; and I found them frequently on both coasts, from 
30° S. lat. up to the tropics. They inhabit the mimosa forests on the east. I first found 
them near the river Gampto and on the west near Nameroo and the Camis Mountains. 
They are very common in Caffraria and the great Namaqua. They are by nature not shy; 
and their flight is very laboured, on account of their heavy body and short wings. They are 
easily approached. Their cry sounds like cou, cou, repeated at short intervals, in a tone 
disproportionately loud for the size of the bird. They feed on insects and fruit. They are 
found in pairs; and when one is killed the other hovers round uttering plaintive cries. 
They breed in holes of trees like Woodpeckers ; the female lays her eggs, which are pure 
white, and four in number, on the decayed wood at the bottom, without any lining inter- 
posed: the male takes his turn at incubating the eggs. I have seen and closely examined 
over twenty nests; they are easily found on account of the fearless nature of the birds. 
They sometimes occupy part of the large nests of the sociable Weaverbirds." 
Levaillant also gives several other interesting details of the habits of this bird. 
Mr. J. J. Monteiro, in a paper in the Zoological Society's 'Proceedings,' January 1865, 
on a collection of birds from Benguela, gives the following useful note :— 
"Their stomachs contained diiferent kinds of small seeds; but their principal food 
appears to be the fibrous bark of some herbaceous plants, as m both these specimens, as 
well as several others that I have examined, the stomachs always contained masses of green 
bark. Its strong, toothed bill would appear to be adapted, therefore, more for the purpose 
of tearing or cutting its bark food than for crushing seeds, as might appear at first sight, 
for I never found their stomachs to contain the remains of the latter." 
Mr. E. L. Layard, in his ' Birds of South Africa,' gives the foUowing account of it :— 
" It is common in mimosa bushes throughout the Karoo, and has apparently a very 
wide range. It is a solitary bird, never more than one pair being seen together, and that 
seldom. Its call is similar to that of the Indian Bucco indicus (X hmnacephala). While 
uttering its cry it remains stationary in some tree, but evidently expends much labour on 
