12 Mr. (I. L. BatQ^—Fic/d-Xoft'S on the 



Besides the refuse picked up around villages^ the Kites 

 eat palm-nuts and catch Mild mice and young chickens. 

 When I had a couple of monkevs"" skulls drying on the 

 roof of my kitchen T had to tie them to a heavy log to 

 prevent them from being carried off by the Kites. 



On my homeward voyage, both in the Kamerun River 

 and at Dakar, Kites were seen following in the wake of the 

 steamer and catching up bits of refuse from the water, just 

 like the Gulls. 



501. Peiixis apivokus. 



Sharpe, Ibis, 1905, p. 405. 



II. ^ ad. Bitye, March 7 , 1907. Dnder parts almost 

 white. Stomach containing large insects, including some 

 larvae that looked like very large maggots, which my hunter 

 found the bird digging out of a rotten log over a stream. 



b. ? . Bitye, Feb. 20, 1908. Abundant dark spots 

 and bands beneath. This bird had some small ova in the 

 ovary. Does it reach its breeding-place early in the spring ? 



531. SCOTOPELIA nouviERi. 



Sharpe, Ibis, 1904, p. 603. 



S . Bitye, Dec. 30, 1907. 



The stomach contained many bones of small fishes and 



some bits of prawns. 



♦ 



552. Syrnium nuchale. [Akung.] 



Sharpe, Ibis, 1907, p. 427. 



When I skinned my specimen I was struck with the 

 difference in size between the ear-openings on the two sides 

 of the head. On measuring these, I found the lengths of 

 the elliptical slits in the skin that form the entrance to the 

 ear-cavities to be as follows : — right ear 20 mm., left 14*5 mm. 

 In all specimens seen since then the same difference has been 

 found, though not always to so great an extent. In one the 

 ear-openings measured : rij^ht 19, left 13 mm. ; in another, 

 right 19, left 14-5 mm.; in another, right 17, left 14 mm. 

 All of these happen to have been male birds. In the size of 

 the ear-cavities in the skulls no difference was observed. 



