Hah. Angola ; Huilla ( Anchieta ), Namacjua Land (Le Vaillant ), Kurrichaine ( Smith ), 
Mosilikatze’s Country ( Verreaux), Cape Colony (mu*. Brit.), Kaffraria (Lesson), Natal 
(Ayres), Transvaal (Ayres), Tette (Livingstone). 
Le Yaillant’s Bai’bet is the largest species, as well as the type of the genus Trachy- 
phonus. From all its allies it may easily be distinguished by well-marked characters, as for 
instance : from T. purpuratus and T. Gofftni by its occipital crest, which is wanting in both 
these birds ; and from T. margaritatus and T. squamiceps by the colour of the back which 
is earthy-brown, whereas in the present species it is metallic black. It is by far the hand- 
somest of all the African Barbets. 
Goffin in his catalogue of the “ Buccones ” in the Leiden Museum has already drawn 
attention to the fact that this bird must bear the name of Trachyphonns cafer (Yieill.), and 
is certainly not identical with the Pious cafer of Gmelin, an error apparently initiated by 
Yieillot and followed by several subsequent authors. 
There are three specimens of this Barbet in the British Museum — one from the Cape 
of Good Hope, and two collected, during Dr. Livingstone’s expedition, at Tette. These 
two last-mentioned birds are much smaller than the Southern bird, the bill is stouter and 
the culmen more arched, the yellow of the face and lower parts clearer and purer and there 
is less trace of scarlet on the breast. These differences, however, are probably due to age, 
and we do not feel justified in separating the Tette bird as a distinct species. The fol- 
lowing measurements will shew the difference in size : 
No. 
Locality. 
Wing. 
Tail. 
Tarsus. 
Bill. 
1 
Transvaal ( Ayres ). 
4-30 
4-0 
MO 
•90 
2 
Cape Colony ( mus . T. G. Eyton). 
4-0 
3-8 
MO 
3 
„ (mus. Brit.). 
3-9 
3-9 
MO 
•85 
4 
Tette (Livingstone). 
3-45 
3*4 
MO 
•80 
5 
ff ff 
3-65 
3-75 
1.05 
•80 
The plumage of the body is soft and rather loose, and the feathers of the forehead and 
cheeks are more or less scaly and stiff at the tips. 
According to Le Yaillant, Tracliyphonus cafer “ frequents the forests, where it feeds on 
“insects and on their larva;, which it seeks among the moss and crevices in the bark of trees, 
“against the trunks of which it clings without climbing. Its call is harsh, resembling the 
