Birds of Fernando Po. 339 



Below lmug a great carpet of mist, but now and again a breath 

 of wind would swoop down and open it, disclosing to view 

 valleys of exquisite beauty bathed in sunlight, where groups of 

 giant tree-ferns flourished, and whence streams, looking like 

 tiny threads of silver, wound their way to the distant sea. 



On the morning of the fourth day, as the summit was 

 reached, we experienced cold blasts of wind from the north- 

 west. A coarse woody weed covered the ground, and the 

 scattered trees were weather-beaten and wind-torn. Near 

 the summit bird-life was scarce, but examples of several 

 species were obtained, including Laniarius poensis, Urolais 

 marice, and Lioptilus claudi. The whole ascent resulted in 

 a collection of 45 specimens. 



On December 1st we reached Banterbari Beach, where 

 Messrs. Holt have a large cocoa-farm. Here I obtained, 

 through the kindness of Messrs. Maysmor and Blissett, a 

 couple of large surf-boats to take the whole expedition back 

 to Port St. Isabel. A week later we all arrived safely, with 

 boots and clothes looking much the worse for wear, and glad 

 indeed we were to get back to civilization again. 



My leave of absence from England having nearly expired, 

 I started by the s.s. ' Oron ' on her homeward voyage, leaving 

 my collector behind, however, to work the southern portion 

 of the island. Principal Father Coll and Padre Albanell, of 

 the Roman Catholic Mission, gave him much assistance in 

 his arduous work, and after a successful trip through the 

 Moka Valley, he returned to England with an additional 

 hundred skins. The work of the whole expedition resulted 

 in a series of nearly 500 specimens representing three new 

 genera and 103 species, of which 35 have proved to be 

 new to science. I owe this remarkable success to having 

 traversed the high ground, my predecessors having confined 

 their attention to the lowlands. The wealth of bird-life on 

 the island is indeed wonderful, and proportionately larger 

 than in the forest-region of the adjoining West Coast. The 

 new species are in many cases remarkable, some of them 

 possessing very distinct characters, while others seem to have 

 their nearest allies in East Africa. Owing to the close 



