Birds of Southern Kumerun. 25 



coast, it appears only in tlie winter months of the north 

 and does not breed. These birds, from their beauty and 

 the grace of their movements, always arrest attention, and 

 the occupation I was engaged in would have to be very 

 absorbing indeed that I would not stop to v^atch a flock of 

 these Bee-eaters. Their first appearance in November is an 

 event of the season. 



They not only fly together during the day, but roost in 

 flocks, in certain trees, at night. Just before their departure 

 in the spring, especially, they gather in very large flocks, 

 which may be seen going to their roosting-trees at evening, 

 repeatedly flying away with a loud twittering, and circling 

 back to the trees again. 



I saw the last of them about the first of April last year, 

 and the year before about the same time. 1 think that they 

 must breed on the banks of the rivers to the north. By 

 November, as I understand, the dry season has set in there, 

 and the means of life (that is, the supply of insects) may be 

 lessened by the drought, in April it rains again there, and 

 they go back. They are not influenced in these movements 

 by the changes of the season in this country (Southern 

 Kamerun), but rather by the changes in their other home. 

 1 have already spoken of the like appearance and disappear- 

 ance of the Kites, and of the passage of tlie Egrets [Bubulcus] 

 twice a year. These are migrations within the Ethiopian 

 region. 



Caprimulgus batesi. (Plate I.) [Mvomvot.] 



Capj'imulgus batesi Sharpe, Ibis, 1907, p. 432. 



No. 2937. ? ad. Bitye, R. Ja, March 7, 1908. Sex- 

 organs and skin of abdomen as of a sitting bird. 



Though I have once or twice observed this Goatsucker 

 hawking for insects at dusk, it is usually seen in the day- 

 time, when scared up from the ground, where it may have 

 been sitting on its one egg, in the edge of a garden or 

 plantation. Sometimes the natives have sharp enough eyes 

 to see it before it flies up, and have secured my specimens 

 for me. Several eggs were brought to me, but always 



