438 NICATOR CHLORIS 
Everywhere it is a bird of the thick forest, and is generally 
best known by its guttural churring note, rapidly repeated, 
which is compared by Sjéstedt to the squeak of a squirrel. 
It feeds chiefly on insects. Bates states that in Camaroon, 
where it is known as “ Ekong”’ or “ Ntyong,” “it stays on the 
borders of the forest, or among the higher trees of second 
growth, and generally keeps itself well hidden; for when it 
comes to light its spotted wings make it conspicuous. The 
only sound ordinarily heard is a scolding noise, which is 
imitated in the explosive nasal sounds of the Balu names. 
But, on one occasion, I watched it sing a song, in a loud, clear 
tone, consisting of quite a variety of notes, some so much 
run together as to remind me of the peculiar trill of the 
Pomatorhynchus. The song was uttered languidly, a few 
notes at a time.” 
A sitting female was shot with a bow and arrow on the nest. 
This fabric was a poor excuse for a nest, a mere pad of dry 
tendrils and weed-stalks mixed together, so small that the bird 
could completely hide it. There was a little depression on 
the top where one egg had been laid. This is a blunt oval, 
and slightly glossy. The ground colour is pale yellowish-clay 
colour, densely spotted all over, especially on the larger 
end, where the under-markings form an irregular clouded 
zone, with small spots and dots of dull reddish-brown and 
dark grey.” 
I have examined examples in the British Museum from 
the following localities :— 
Portuguese Guinea—Gunnal (Ansorge); Sierra Leone— 
Bo (Kemp); Liberia—Grand Cape Mount (Biittikofer) ; 
Gold Coast Colony—Ashantee (Gould), Fantee, Denkera 
(Ussher), Wassaw (Blissett), Abouri (Shelley and Buckley), 
Prahsu (Alexander); S. Nigeria—Burutu (Kemp); Cama- 
roon—Camaroon Mountain (Crossley), Efulen and River Ja 
