ON THE BIRD-LIFE IN NORTHEEN NIGERIA 27 



hanging the pool ; but there is nothing to cause alarm, 

 merely a lonely sandpiper running along the pool's edge 

 and a nimble waterhen treading the soft carpet of weed. 

 Meanwhile, more cuckoos have crept out from their thick 

 retreats in the same cautious manner, and now one and all 

 •commence to call the females to their sides by uttering a 

 series of strong, deep notes, which might be described by the 

 syllables, " ho, ho, ho," in descending tones. AVhen the 

 breeding-season approaches, the cuckoos may frequently be 

 heard in the middle of a moonlight night. While the river 

 flows through a land of silence, they are still wide awake 

 and answering one another with their far-reaching mellow 

 ■calls, that now and again become rapid in utterance, just 

 like the sound of water bubbling from a long-necked jar. 



The traveller passing along the river, cannot fail to be 

 attracted by the beautiful bee-eaters ; not only because of 

 their Ught colourings but also because of their graceful forms 

 and remarkable nesting colonies. On the Benue, we 

 observed no less than three species. One is a handsome 

 carmine-breasted bird {Merops nuhicus), eleven inches in 

 length, and the representative in this part of Africa of the 

 South African species, but differing in having the entire 

 throat green like the head. Another is the scarlet-throated 

 bee-eater {MelUtophagus buUocJci), also similar to a South 

 African species, but to be distinguished from the latter by 

 the absence of blue on the upper tail-coverts. The third 

 species is the beautiful rose-breasted bee-eater {Merops 

 malimbicus) which I came across nesting in the steep banks 

 of the Simanka river to the North of Ibi also. 



Essentiallv river birds, these bee-eaters are seldom 



