Mashonaland Birds. 
217 
among the heavier timber which grows in the vicinity of the 
larger rivers. At Gadzima, on the Umfuli, I found it fairly 
common, and observed it again on the Hanyani, some 12 
miles south of Salisbury ; it also occurs sparingly about 
Mazoe. In some ways its habits are notably different from 
those of its congeners. It is never found sitting on the 
summits of trees at the outskirts of the bush, but only on the 
lower branches further within; it is comparatively tamer; 
and its courting gambols are also distinct, for it will fly with 
a very rapid zigzag for some distance, and then suddenly 
shoot straight up into the air for 15 or 20 feet with closed 
wings, curving gently over and down again head foremost, 
screaming all the while. C. spatulatus is quite as quarrel¬ 
some as C. caudatus, and even more noisy; I can only 
compare its cries to the yelping of a litter of puppies. 
Stomachs contained grasshoppers, with beetles and large fly- 
maggots, evidently taken from carrion. 
114. Coracias olivaceiceps. (Olive-headed Roller.) 
This clumsy and comparatively" dull-coloured bird is 
generally distributed, but never plentiful, being even more 
solitary in its habits than the other species. Like the first 
two, it is fond of sitting on elevated situations and pouncing 
thence on its prey in a Shrike-like manner. It is rather 
more lethargic than the others, but its courting flight is 
practically the same as that of C. caudatus. The stomachs 
contained beetles, scorpions, and several kinds of locusts, 
including a gaudily-coloured species which emits a very 
strong and unpleasant odour. 
115. Eurystomus afer. (Yellow-billed Roller.) 
Much the scarcest of our Rollers, and I have only seen 
a few specimens along the Umfuli, where I observed a pair 
breeding in a hole in a tree close to my camp. It is wilder 
even than Coracias caudatus, which it much resembles in its 
general habits. 
116. Dicrocercus hirundinaceus. (S wallow-tailed Bee- 
eater.) 
Not very common, and, unlike the other Bee-eaters, it does 
