400 Mr. C. F. M. Swynnerton on the 



the butterfly was caught outright only twice ; on two other 

 occasions, after much dodging, it got away and the bird 

 returned to its perch ; while on two remaining occasions, on 

 one bird missing the insect, several others promptly flew 

 out (the first time seven or eight, and the second time 

 three) to join in the sport, the butterfly being eventually 

 captured each time after some little darting about and 

 confusion. Besides this, on quite a number of occasions, 

 I saw a bird aim at or catch what I took to be a 

 Lycsenid, the others going out to its aid in the same 

 manner three or four times. Presumably what they dipped 

 at in the water were floating insects. Frequently they 

 would fly out to their object, dart backwards and forwards 

 over it within a radius of two or three feet, and then return 

 without having struck ; what they had detected from the 

 shore had evidently proved on closer inspection to be some- 

 thing inedible. Towards evening they would become very 

 noisy, flying in small parties amongst the low trees and 

 scrub at the water^s edge and the larger trees above, 

 crossing and re-crossing the river, and all the time keeping 

 up a chorus of coaxing notes — " gweye-gweye gwehehe ! " 

 Evidently, like the Touracos, they become excited as bed- 

 time draws near, and even when it is practically dark an 

 individual bird will frequently dart out over the stream and 

 return with its captive in its bill. Another common note was 

 a harsh but not very loud '^ kara-kara, ka-kara-kara/^ &c., 

 and once or twice the birds uttered a peculiar slow " ke- 

 iririri-rin'-ro ! " They were very tame, my main diflficulty 

 being to get far enough away for a shot, but when finally 

 they saw one of their number fall to my gun they flew 

 round and round and eventually vanished with shrill cries of 

 "gwea-gwea!" Two males measured 8*8 and 9*85 inches 

 respectively, and four stomachs examined contained beetles 

 (including a Cetoniid), hymenoptera, a butterfly {Acrcsa), 

 and, twice, a Cicada. The irides were very dark warm 

 brown and the feet dark leaden or blackish grey. A bird in 

 quite immature plumage, shot on Dec. 15th, did not differ 

 from the adults in these respects. 



