458 NILAUS AFER 
the open country at Quamin-fio, some ten miles from Accra. 
Alexander, who met with the species near the Volta River 
and at Gambaga, writes (Ibis, 1902, p. 311): “This Shrike 
is not common, and is generally seen singly or in pairs. 
It is very active, and runs along the branches and limbs of 
trees after the manner of a Nuthatch.” He also remarks that 
the adult females have the crown brown, which is a sign of 
immaturity in the other sex. Subsequently he obtained a 
large series of these birds in various localities in northern 
Nigeria especially near Lake Chad. In Togoland it has been 
obtained at Bismarckburg, Kratshi, and Jaunde. 
The species is generally distributed over the Nile and 
Abyssinian districts from the Albert Nyanza to Khartum 
and Eritrea, and is replaced in Uganda and Somaliland by 
N. minor. 
Emin procured specimens at Lado and Fadjulli. Mr. A. L. 
Butler met with it at twenty miles west of Omdurman, and on 
Jebel Melbis in Kordofan, and writes: “‘ Nowhere abundant, 
but I have come across it singly or in pairs along the White 
Nile generally, and as far west as El Obeid in Kordofan. 
This Bush-Shrike is a bird of unobtrusive habits, and spends 
most of its time quietly searching branches and foliage for its 
insect food. In its actions it reminds me very much of the 
genus Tephrodornis. Its note is a clear and somewhat ventri- 
loquistic whistle.’ Mr. H. F. Witherby writes: “We only 
observed this bird between Jebel Auli and Gerazi, from 
twenty-five to sixty miles south of Khartum. In that district 
it was not uncommon. ‘This was one of the few species found 
breeding. The sexual organs in the specimens preserved were 
in an advanced condition, and I watched a pair building a 
nest on May 1. It was placed in the fork of a horizontal 
bough about 30 feet up a sont-tree in a thick wood. Both 
birds worked at building, bringing material at intervals of a 
