496 Mr. G. L. Bates 07i the 



dark brownisli-black, tlie middle pair with three and the 

 outer pairs with five large^ rounded, white spots on the inner 

 web only. Throat, middle of the chest, and under tail- 

 coverts white ; sides of tlie chest and flanks brown mixed 

 with whitish-bufF ; middle of the chest, breast, and belly 

 whitish-buff, each feather with a large, terminal, round or 

 oval spot of dark brown ; under wing-coverts pale buff. Iris 

 bright yellow ; bill dull yellow ; feet yellow, claws yellow 

 with black tips. Culmen ca. 12 mm. ; wiug IOj ; tail 70; 

 tarsus about 20. 



This type-specimen is the only one that I have seen. It was 

 shot by Nkolo, who discovered it through the noise made by 

 other small birds mobbing it as it sat hidden in a thicket, 



Agapornis pullaria. [Ko-nkae.] 



Sharpe, Ibis, 1904, p. 605; 1907, p. 428; Bates, Ibis, 

 1905, p. 89. 



One of the prettiest sights I ever recollect was five or six 

 Ko-nkae flying up from a little stream where they had beeu 

 bathing, the blue of the rump-feathers shewing very con- 

 sjiicuously. 



No. 4318, ? , was shot by my boy as it came out of a hole 

 in an ants^ nest {njak) high up in an aseng tree, near the 

 village. I went to see the place, and the boy climbed up and 

 begun to chop the 7ijak, which was hard and earthy and 

 firmly attached to the large tree-stem- — a different kind of 

 njak from the one in Avhich a Woodpecker's nest Avas found 

 {cf. 'Ibis,' 1909, p. 20). The big ants inhabiting the njak 

 bit him so cruelly that he had to come down. The tree was 

 then chopped down ; but the hole in the njah was found 

 empty. I suppose the hole had been excavated b}'^ these 

 birds ; the mate of the one killed was seen in the tree-tops 

 near by. IIow do they endure the ants ? They must work 

 so gently that the ants are not disturbed. These fierce ants 

 would be an excellent defence for the birds against robbers 

 of their nest. 



The ova and oviduct were not yet enlarged in this example. 

 Tiicsc most loving birds must keep house together long before 

 thev rear their brood. 



