Birds of Southern Cameroun. 515 



Alcedo guentheri. 



Sharpe, Ibis, 1904, p. 607; 1907, p. 429. 



Five young birds of this species, with most of the plumage 

 still in tlie sheaths, giving them the appearance of being 

 covered with porcupine quills, were brought to me alive in 

 December. The boy who brought them said he had 

 dug them out of a hole in the side of a pit on the bank of a 

 small river near Bitye. While they remained alive for a few 

 hours in a box, one of them continually made a most curious 

 noise, something between a rattle and a fizzle, rhythmically 

 varied in louduess by the opeuiiig and closing of the bill. 

 Only one bird did this, and always the same one, while the 

 rest remained silent. When that one was removed, another 

 after some minutes took up the role of " soda-water bottle " ; 

 and when that one was removed, another commenced. There 

 was always one "■ fizzler " only. 



The large number^ five, of nestlings is noteworthy as being 

 unusual in this country. The wings of these young birds 

 were found to be eutaxic. 



This species was also found at A-Ssobam. 



Caprimulgus BATEsi. [Mvoinvot.] (Plate IX. fig. 10, egg.) 



Sharpe, Ibis, 1907, p. 432 ; Bates, Ibis, 1909, p. 25. 



All the birds obtained in breeding condition and the eggs 

 found, both before and since my former note on this species, 

 were taken in one or the other of the two dry seasons, 

 and most were in March, at the end of the driest time of 

 the year. 



A young bird not completely feathered was brought to me 

 in April. The abdomen was covered with long buff down, 

 and there was some similar down on the legs. The 

 pectination of the middle claw was not well developed, there 

 being only a wide margin, with a few shallow notches, on 

 part of the length of the claw. 



The egg figured here is the one that was broui;ht in with 

 No. 2937, the specimen from which the figure of the bird 

 was drawn (r/. 'Ibis/ 1909, p. 25, pi. i.). 



