Beefeaterbird

Beefeater (bird), a popular name for any bird of the genus Buphaga, of the Starling family, with two species from Tropical and Southern Africa. They differ from the true starlings in having a stout hard bill, swollen just behind the tip, bare nostrils, very short stout feet, furnished with very sharp curved claws. These birds owe their popular and generic names to their habit of perching on cattle and feeding on the parasites which infest them. The best known (B. Africana) is from 9 in. to 10 in. long, dull brown on upper surface, chin, and throat, buff beneath, basal half of bill rich orange, extremity scarlet.