132 WILD LIFE UNDER PHE EQUATOR. 
them in security, no snake or wild animal being mle to 
disturb them. 
Not only do they use these nests while aes are 
hatching, but also during the rainy season. How cosy 
they must feel in these places of refuge when a storm is 
raging! Nothing could be safer, or better shelter them 
from the rain. ‘The aperture being about two inches in 
thickness before you come to the perpendicular hollow, 
of course the rain can not reach the inside. ; 
I have seen trees entirely perforated by them; that is 
to say, having more than a dozen of these holes in them ; 
and thus forming what we may call a little village of 
themselves. I wonder if they hada king! These birds 
are very shy, and the least noise will frighten them. 
How affectionate the pair seemed to be, how willing they 
were to help each other in their work! © 
There is also another species of Barbatula which I 
have discovered, of a gray color, called now Barbatula 
fuliginosa, of the same habits, but found in greater num- 
bers. I have seen colonies of them, composed of thirty or 
forty nests, on the same tree. 
The picture given by the artist represents the birds 
working and making their nests. 
Now I must speak to you of another bird, a very curi- 
ous one, the Sycobius nigerrimus, which is found in almost 
if not all the regions I have explored in Equatorial Af- 
rica. The habits of this bird are most extraordinary. 
They are extremely sociable birds; the woods or the un- 
inhabited plantations have no charm for them ; they must 
be where people live, and hence they prefer always to live 
in the neighborhood of a village. If there are trees in the 
middle of the village they will live there, or on the trees 
