IN WESTERN LIBERIA. 193 



by, they proceeded very fast in their work which kept 

 them in a state of estonishing activity the whole day long. 

 I spent much time that day in observing their proceed- 

 ings, which I could do very easy, my spyglass in hand, 

 from my window. At sunset the nests, 54 in number, 

 were finished , as far as I could observe from my posi- 

 tion, and the birds flew off altogether for their nights- 

 lodging. The next morning soon after they had come 

 back, I heard a terrible noise again. The birds examined 

 tree and nests from all sides — something must appa- 

 rently have happened — and, as upon a given sign, ofi 

 they flew and rushed down into the cane-grove right be- 

 hind my station , where they began immediately to build 

 other nests which they fastened to the tops of the canes , 

 about 8 to 10' above the ground. A few days afterwards 

 they had laid their eggs , 2 to 3 in number , uniform 

 bluish green and of the same size as those of H. textor. 

 I never saw one of the birds return to the above men- 

 tioned tree again , and I guess that they had been terri- 

 fied by a colony of ants or a snake, found that morning 

 in the tree , or that they disliked to be observed by me 

 and my servant boys. 



Hy phanto mis tricolor. 



Hyphantornis tricolor, Hartl. J. f. 0. 1854, p. 110; id. 

 Orn. W. Afr. p, 126. 



Hab. Sierra Leone, Liberia, Gold Coast. 



One specimen (adult male) collected near Bavia (St. Paul's). 



Notwithstanding all our painstakings we were not able 

 to get more specimens of this beautiful weaver, which is 

 still very rare in collections. It was shot from a high 

 tree , and nothing at all can be said about its habits. 



Iris brown , bill black , feet grayish brown. 



N"otes from the Leyden Museum , "Vol. "VII. 



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