Birds of Southern Kamerun. 41 



black |iu both se x e^. In other species of the genus the 

 females have more black than the males. 



Malimbus coronatus. [Nga'a-minkan.] 



Sharpe, Ibis, 1908, p. 352, pi. vii. 



No. 1865. ? . This specimen is another perfectly black 

 female, which was previously entered under Melanopteryx 

 mgerrimus (' The Ibis/ 1908, p. 350). It is exactly like No. 

 1049, and if I am right in considering it the female of the 

 present species, M. cassini and M. coronatus have the females 

 just alike. The evidence for naming it as I have done is less 

 conclusive than in the case of No. 1049. I believe No, 1865 

 to have been the mate of No. 1864, the type of Dr. Sharpe's 

 Malimbus coronatus; but I did not shoot the pair myself. 

 The boy who brought them to me said that he shot the two at 

 their nest, and he brought the nest along to shew me. I do 

 not believe that he was either deceiving me or mistaken. 



The nest which the boy brought was quite different from 

 that of M. cassini described above, being large, but with the 

 entrance only six inches long, and was woven mostly of 

 tendrils, with the ends bristling out, giving it a rough 

 appearance. 



1315. Malimbus malimbicus. [Nga'a-minkan.] 



Sharpe, Ibis, 1908, p. 351. 



This red-crested species is perhaps the commonest member 

 of this interesting genus of Ploceidse, in which the bright red 

 colours blossoming out at some part of their ebony plumage 

 remind one of the surprisingly bright flowers sometimes seen 

 on the black forest tree-trunks ; both flowers and birds are 

 characteristic of the great forest. 



No. 1625 was shot (by myself) near its nest, from which 

 it had just come out. The nest was hung from the long 

 thorny rhachis of a Calamus, or climbing palm, about 20 feet 

 from the ground. It was in plain sight, but protected by its 

 position on the long, swaying, thorny leaf-stalk. This nest 

 was more roughly built than that of Malimbus cassini, and 

 the downward-pointing opening was short and ragged. The 

 material seemed to be strips of the leaves of the palm on 

 which it was hung. 



