Birds of Sunt hern h'ainerun. 21 



not so tougli ; they are of material that will burn. When 

 one is touched myriads of ants swarm out. One day my 

 boy saw a Woodpecker enter a hole in one of these ants' 

 nests. He covered up the hole, and thrust a palm-stalk 

 dart through the ants' nest, transfixing the bird ; and then 

 brought ants' nest, bird and all tome. The bird was a male 

 of this species, and forms my specimen No. 2871. The 

 ants' nest was almost deserted by ants, yet two or three 

 were seen crawling over it. The bird and its mate must 

 have first eaten the ants (which would make a number of 

 meals, I should think), and then made a hollow in the 

 deserted home and used it for their own breeding-hole. The 

 cavity was large and would be easy to excavate. There were 

 two eggs, which both measured 22 x 18 mm. 



[Two eggs are of a rather short and perfectly oval shape, 

 slightly glossy and pure white. — O.-G.] 



767. Dendropicus lafresnayi. [Ngomoko.] 

 Dendropicus camerunensis Sharpe, Ibis, 1907, p. 443. 

 Dendropicus lafresnayi Sharpe, Ibis, 1904, p. 620. 



77Q. Dendropicus gabonensis. [Ngomoko ] 



Sharpe, Ibis, 1904, p. 619; 1907, p. 443. 



These are both birds of the open country and second- 

 growth forest, and are never found in the primitive 

 forest. D. lafresnayi was the commoner species at the J a, 

 D. gabonensis at Efulen. These Woodpeckers diff'er from 

 Detidromus in their food ; for they were never found to have 

 eaten ants. Small white grubs were the usual contents of 

 their stomachs. 



The lively cry of Dendropicus lafresnayi was one of the 

 commonest bird-sounds in the bushes and small trees 

 surrounding Bitj^e. At Efulen, too, I heard a bird that 

 looked like Dendropicus (probably D. gabonensis) utter a 

 shrill piercing cry. 



778. CoLius NiGRicoLLis NiGRiscAPALis. [Nsesal.] 

 Colius niginscapalis Sharpe, Ibis, 1907, p. 434. 

 As I have already said something {' Ibis,' 1907, p. 434) 

 of the general habits of the Colies, I will speak only of 



