14 jMr. G. L. B-dte^—Fie/d-Nutes uu the 



and jungle of old cleared land around villages. In such a 

 situation was the nest found that has been already described. 

 Subsequently another was found in a very different sort of 

 place. It was in a small marsh surrounded by the forest, sucli 

 as the people call ''engas," formed by the spreading out of the 

 water of a little stream over several acres. The nest rested 

 upon the coarse grass of the niarsii, which was bent together 

 to form its base, with a good many dry blades broken off 

 and laid on for lining, and some standing stalks also bent 

 and disposed over the nest to foim a screen. One egg only 

 had been laid, but another nearly ready to be deposited was 

 found in the oviduct of the bird which was shot. Twice 

 subsequently egu,s of this bird have been brought to me 

 which were said to have been found in an ''eiigas^' or 

 marsh. Butler ('Ibis/ 1905, p. 356) states that in the 

 Upper Nile district this species is a bird of the " sudd." In 

 Kamerun it seems also to frequent marshes to some extent, 

 though usually seen on dry ground. 



Three eggs appear to form the clutch. Leaving out one 

 clutch of three, which were less surely identified than the 

 others and were somewhat smaller, my eggs measure : length 

 35-37"5 ram,, breadth 26-295 mm. 



[Nine eggs are of a blunt oval shape, practically devoid of 

 gloss, and pure white. — O.-G.] 



Besides the insect food — usually grasshoppers — found in 

 the stomachs of most specimens, and the larger prey already 

 reported, 1 have found in the stomachs of birds of this 

 species bits of the shell of a small speckled bird's egg, like 

 that of a Cisticola, and bits of the shell of a water mollusk. 



I have mentioned the native story that this bird adorns its 

 nest with the heads of the snakes that it has killed. Though 

 I have never found these, I have seen a poisonous snake — a 

 half-grown African cobra four feet long — that had been 

 killed by one of these birils. A woman called me to see the 

 dead snake, which w'as found lying with its head bruised and 

 pierced. She had seen the bird fly up from the place, and 

 on going there hud found the snake lying dead. 



