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the old warrior’s interest in it. In his earlier career Mozilikatze claimed its feathers solely for royal 
use and adornment, and in his milder moods has been known to give an ox to the youth who had 
captured and presented one of these birds. It delights to perch on the topmost branch of a leafless 
tree, from which it gives forth its note of challenge; and should a Crow or Hawk approach, it will 
make rapid darts at the intruder, and with sharp pecks and harsh screams drive off birds greatly its 
superior in size and strength.” Mr. J. H. Gurney says that the late Mr. E. C. Buxton, who met with 
this Boiler near the Lo Bombo mountains in August 1872, wrote to him respecting it that he 
found the easiest way to procure these birds was to set the grass on fi.re: as soon as there was 
a large fire (and sometimes many acres would be burning at once) these birds came in numbers 
to feed on the insects that were driven out; and in fact all insectivorous birds came, to say 
nothing of Crows and others. It is said to have a habit, when disturbed by the solitary hunter, 
of fiying directly towards him, high overhead, and after careful scrutiny wheeling off uttering 
discordant screams. In most parts of its range it appears to be a partial migrant, as Boehm 
remarks that in Central Africa this and other Boilers had almost all left in the first half of 
September, but returned at the commencement of the rainy season. 
The food of this Boiler consists of insects of various sorts—beetles, grasshoppers, locusts, &c,, 
which it either catches on the wing or picks up from off the ground; and Mr. Ayres remarks 
that when the grass is burned in suitable localities he has observed as many as a dozen or more 
together following the course of the fire, settling on trees and bushes in front of the flames 
and pouncing down on beetles and grasshoppers that are driven out by the heat. 
Like its congeners this Boiler nests in the holes of old trees, depositing its pure white eggs on 
the rotten wood at the bottom of the hole. Fischer found the nest at Kipini (East Africa) on the 
19th July, in the hollow branch of a Hyphcena^ containing three eggs, and Mr. T. E. Buckley saw 
the young birds in the Transvaal in about November, evidently not long out of the nest. I have 
never been able to procure the eggs of this species, but they probably closely resemble those of the 
Common Boiler. 
The specimens figured and described are in my own collection, excepting the young bird from 
Magaliesberg, which is in the British Museum. 
In the preparation of the above article I have, besides the series in the British Museum, 
examined the following specimens :— 
jF Mus. H. JE. Dresser. 
a, S ad. Zambesi {Bradshaw). b, c, d, ad. Zambesi {Cooke). 
E Mus. H. D. Tristram. 
a. Mozambique {H. Piers, B.N.). h, ^. Kikombo, C. Africa, 1888 {S. T. Priien). 
