60 Mr. G. L. Bates — Field-Notes on the 



Pycxoxotus gabonexsis. [Nkwe'ele, or Kwalawata.] 



Sharpe, Ibis, 1907, p. 463. 



No mistake was made in calling the Nkwe'ele '^ a versatile 

 bird " {' The Ibis,' 1905, p. 98). It has many habits usually 

 associated with other birds. It so frequently clings by its 

 claws to the bark of a tree, using its tail for a support, that 

 the tail-feathers become broken, and it is rather rare to 

 see a bird with all its tail-feathers whole. It eats fruits, 

 but seems to prefer insects. "When an army of driver-ants 

 spreads itself among the bushes of the open land around 

 villages (the Nkwe'ele never goes into the forest), these birds 

 may be seen busily pecking and eating something as they 

 hop about to keep out of the way of the ants. But it is not 

 the ants themselves that they eat, l)iit the other insects — 

 beetles, cockroaches, crickets, &c. — that arc driven by the 

 ants from their hiding-places. This I know in one case at 

 least by examining the stomach of a bird shot among the 

 ants. 



An egg measures 21'5 x 17 mm. (See also ^ Ibis,' 1907, 

 p. 163.) 



[Three eggs of the usual Bulbul type, of a rather bluntly 

 pointed oval shape and slightly glossy ; the ground-colour is 

 Avhite, densely and. finely mottled and frecklied all over with 

 pale lilac-grey and light red, the markings in some cases 

 being more or less concentrated into a zone round the larger 

 end.— O.-G.] 



1829. AXTUOTHREPTES FRASEKI. 



Sharpe, Ibis, 1908, p. 340. 



This plain green Sunbird is a bird of the forest, and was 

 more abundant at Efulcn than at the Ja. It is a common 

 member of the <'jak (sec 'Ibis,' 1905, p. 462). Its food 

 consists of insects of all kinds, as well as spiders. 



The remarkable little song of some small forest-bird, to 

 which I have often listened, I am almost satisfied is sung by 

 this bird, as my boys say they have heard the bird sing it, 

 and I myself have heard the song in places where it 

 was to be expected. It consists of four musical notes in a 



