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



Either the first plumage of Cinnyris chlorupygius continues 

 for a long time after the bird has begun to breed, and there is 

 at least one moult before the changing moult ; or there exists 

 another species of the same size having a plain olivaceous 

 plumage throughout life.) 



1914. Parus funereus. 



Pentheres funereus Sharpe, Ibis, 1908, p, 337. 



The two specimens obtained were all that 1 have ever seen. 

 The first was shot on a little tree at the back of my house at 

 Efulen, where it was in the act of pulling to pieces a large 

 caterpillar. In the stomach were found bits of the cater- 

 pillar, just swallowed. AVhen this bird was freshly killed, 

 the nostrils were seen to have a raised ring round them, as 

 in Indicator ; when the specimen dries, this is not apparent. 

 The other example was obtained at the Ja, shot by a boy, 

 who said that there were two together. 



1943. PhOLTDORNIS RUSHIiB. 



Sharpe, Ibis, 1908, p. 324. 



These pretty little creatures, which would stand a good 

 chance of a prize for the smallest of birds, are generally seen, 

 three or four together, flitting about in the tree-tops, catching 

 insects, or rather picking them off the twigs ; for the insects 

 most frequently found in their stomachs were the Cocci 

 that adhere to the bark of twigs. A favourite foraging- 

 place with them seemed to be the parasitic plants, like 

 mistletoe, found on the branches of trees. When feeding 

 they were heard to make a scarcely audible little twitter. 



One of these little birds was brought to me alive by a boy 

 who said that he had caught it in his hands. The way in 

 which he came to be able to catch it was evident when I 

 examined the bird, for its wing-quills were found to be stuck 

 together by the strong, viscid, yellow threads of a spider's 

 web. This is not the first small bird which I have known 

 to be caught by becoming entangled in the web of a certain 

 kind of large blank-and-yellow spiders. 



