Birds of Southern Kamerun, 31 



The two young birds Nos. 1555 and 1555 a, which are 

 entered under Alseonax epulatus in ' The Ibis^ (1907, p. 445), 

 had been taken in an old Weaver^s nest, and must have 

 been the young of the present species. Alseonax does not 

 build in such places. If they had belonged to Alseonax they 

 would surely have shown rufous spots. 



Smithornis camerunensis. [Nom-Kup-Mefan, or Mba- 

 mezok.] 



Sharpe, Ibis, 1907, p. 451. 



This note is additional to the former (' Ibis,^ 1907, p. 451). 

 I wish I could say now whether the peculiar rattling noise 

 made by these birds is produced "mechanically,'' by which 

 I mean in some other way than by the voice, or not. But 

 I know no more than I did, except that I have many times 

 watched these birds making it, as one can do by patiently 

 and carefully creeping up into the thicket where the noise 

 is heard ; and I have always observed that the sound begins 

 and ends with the little circuit-flight from the twig, and is 

 never heard when the bird is not flying, and that on the 

 short circuit-flight the wings seem to be moved much more 

 rapidly than is necessary for the distance of a few feet. 



The nest has been described, though it should not have 

 been called 'Mittle," and the long streamers from it were 

 not mentioned. Others have since been found, and in two 

 of them the sitting birds were caught — both females and 

 each with two eggs under her. The two of these eggs which 

 were whole, one from each nest, measured 23 X 15*5 mm. 

 and 24*5 X 16 mm. 



[Three eggs are of a rather long and pointed oval form, 

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



Smithornis zenkeri Reich. [Mbamezok.] 



Sharpe, Ibis, 1907, p. 452 ; Keich. V. A. ii. p. 724. 



No. 2942. ? . Bitye, R. Ja, March 9, 1908. Abdomen 

 and breeding-organs indicating a sitting bird. 



This specimen is heie recorded because it was shot just 

 after leaving its nest, and the nest and eggs were brought to 



