BRITISH CAMEROONS 343 
carcass revealed that anatomically the bird showed little relation- 
ship to the crows but came nearer the starlings. 
By studying the living bird some of the leading systematists 
now consider it to be an aberrant babbler. In view of these chang- 
ing opinions I have referred to my bird as the Gray-necked 
Picathartes, the latter word being its generic name. 
One of its peculiarities, in view of its large size, is that it makes 
a mud nest on an overhanging rock-face in the forest. Situations 
suited to the bird’s nesting requirements are distinctly rare in the 
Cameroons, and where they exist the forest is intersected with 
deep ravines and fallen tree-trunks, so that they are rarely in 
proximity to any native track. The bird’s rarity, or rather the 
fact that it is localized, seems to be governed entirely by the lack 
of nesting sites. 
I persuaded the boy who brought my bird to lead me to the 
spot where he actually caught it. As it was obviously trapped 
soon after daybreak I reckoned that its sleeping quarters were near 
at hand—probably the same rock-face where it normally nested. 
The boy did not know anything of the peculiar nesting habits of 
picathartes, and had never come across such a nesting site. | 
offered twenty shillings to any native who could lead me to such 
a place, but with no result. 
I then started a search on my own, and to my surprise and joy, 
within a quarter of a mile of where my bird was caught I found a 
small rock-face in a most inaccessible situation, well concealed by 
the surrounding vegetation, which had the remains of six mud 
nests on it. The nest is of pure mud at the base, but the rest is of 
mud reinforced with vegetable fibers, and the rim is further rein- 
forced with small sticks and leaves. 
Greatly encouraged by this find, I revisited the place and set 
nets, but the rain increased and for a whole month it hardly 
ceased. More and more water seeped through the rocks and a 
considerable volume poured over the top. To ascertain if pica- 
thartes came here to roost I set off one evening and concealed 
myself in the undergrowth near the rock. It was a gloomy busi- 
ness, but I remained until it was quite dark. There was no sign 
of picathartes. I think they had been roosting here until very re- 
