8 Mr. G. L. Biites— Field-Notes o?i the 



260. PoDicA CAMERUNENsis. [Mvcleku.] 



No. 2489. c^. Bitye, April 24, 1907. Testes large. 

 Stomach (gizzard) containing bits of prawns. 



This is a very different-looking bird from any other that 

 I have obtained and agrees exactly with the description of 

 P. cameruaensls. 



260 6f. PoDicA JACOBI Rcich. (?). 



No. 2877. S ' Bitye, Jan. 26, 1908. Testes rather large. 



No. 2991. ? . Bitye, March 23, 1908. 



Both these specimens are adult, as indicated by their 

 breeding-organs. They agree with the description of 

 P. seneyalensis, except in having white throats and smaller 

 measurements : the male, wing 190 mm., tail 135_, culraen40; 

 the female, wing 171 mm., tail 140, culmen 37. They are just 

 like the specimens of Podica that I have sent in former years, 

 which have been named P. camenmensis, but incorrectly. 



I find in the ' Journal fiir Ornithologie' (1906, p. 325) the 

 following note : — " Dr. Reichenow exhibited a new Podica 

 from Kamerun, which he named Podica jacobi, and which 

 differs from P. seneyaleruis in the much smaller size, and 

 apparently always retains the white throat, even in age. 

 Length about 370, wing 157, tail 125, bill 35, tarsus 35 mm." 



My specimens of Podica, of both species, have been shot 

 by natives, who say that they find the bird swimming, but 

 that, when frightened, it flies to the bushes or low branches 

 along the bank, often, on first rising from the water, using 

 both its wings and its feet as it skims along the surface. 

 The stomachs are very muscular, and sometimes contain 

 what appears to be mud and trash from the margins of 

 streams. These birds are very ill-smelling and disagreeable 

 to skin. 



313, BUBULCUS IBIS. 



Bubulcus lucidus Sharpe, Ibis, 1907, p. 424. 



S. Bitye, May 18, 1907. With long ornamental 

 feathers on the crest, back, and breast. 



(J. Bitye, Nov. 11, 1907. Without the ornamental 

 feathers. 



