358 CINNAMOPTERYX CASTANEOFUSCA 



attracted by an unusual noise, caused by a great number of 

 these birds flying to and fro, " talking palaver," as bis boy 

 aptly suggested ; for early next morning a cloud of them came 

 and took possession of the tree and immediately began con- 

 structing their hanging nests, and continued actively at work 

 the whole day, and by sunset he counted fifty-four of their nests 

 apparently finished, when the birds flew off together to roost 

 elsewhere. The following morning, soon after they had come 

 back, he heard again a great chattering and he saw the birds 

 examining the nests from all sides, and then, as if by a signal, 

 they all took flight together to a cane-grove on the other side 

 of the station, where they immediately commenced building 

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

 8 to 12 feet from the ground. A few days after they had laid 

 their eggs, two to three in number, and he never again saw 

 these birds return to the tree where they had first commenced 

 building, having, he suggests, possibly been scared away from 

 the tree by a colony of ants or a snake they may have 

 discovered among the boughs. The eggs were uniform bluish 

 green. 



Drs. Reichenow and Liihder found the species bi-eeding in 

 colonies near Abokobi, and remark that the nests were of an 

 oval form, hung from reeds and bamboos at an elevation of 

 from 5 to 20 feet, and the eggs, two in number, were pale blue 

 and measured 0"92 x 0"64 Mr. Boyd Alexander obtained tlie 

 species at Pong, and writes: "Breeds in May. The nests, 

 constructed of coarse grass-blades and lined with fresh 

 leaves, are suspended underneath the fronds of the palm-trees 

 in damp situations. A large number may be found together. 

 Both males and females share in the incubation." They were 

 not breeding in February and March, when I found them fre- 

 quenting the thick forests around Abrobonko near Cape Coast, 

 and at Abouri in the Aguapim district. Ussher considered 



