Birds of Southern Kamerun. 27 



plumes, I was surprised when I saw Dr. Sharpens paper to 

 find what they were. The natives about Bitye certainly know 

 nothing of the remarkable plumage of the breeding males. 

 My specimens were shot in March, just at the end of the dry 

 season and onlv in 190G : the bird has not been seen agrain. 

 I think some of them must have been in that neighbourhood 

 on a temporary sojourn, perhaps driven by the dry weather 

 from the region further north or north-east. According to 

 a trader, who had been in Bertua, far to the north-east of 

 Bitye, where there is little forest, this bird lives and breeds 

 there. 



934. Ch.etura sabinii. 



No. 2511. c?. Bitye, May 15, 1907. Testes large. 

 Iris brown ; feet bluish. 



This specimen was caught alive by a man who said that 

 it and another one tlew into his house ! Some white-rumped 

 Swifts have been several times seen coursing in the air, and 

 were doubtless of the same species. 



966. HiRUNDO GORDONi. [Ngomcko.] 



Sharpe, Ibis, 1907, p. 4W. 



A note on this Swallow has already been published 

 (' Ibis,^ 1905, p. 467). Birds of this species are seen oftener 

 than anywhere else about deserted village sites, especially 

 those along the road to the coast. Here there is not enough 

 stir of human life to scare them away, and yet there is the 

 open space and the bare ground that they like. On a trip 

 to Ebolwoa in December 1906, I saw two of these Swallows 

 fly close over the bare ground of such a place, and perch 

 on a plantain along the path. Then one of them was 

 heard to sing, uttering a trill in a low, but very sweet voice, 

 its throat swelling much at each utterance. This it repeated 

 and continued to do so as long as I stood and watched. Its 

 mate was perched not more than three feet away. 



971. HiRUNDO XIGRITA. 



Specimens of this Swallow were shot on the water of 

 the River Ja, or the small River Libi, where it joins the Ja, 



