Birds of Southern Cameroon. 517 



Nightjar (see ' Ibis/ 1909, p. 2G), of wliicli another example 

 was shot in March, also in the dry season. A male with long 

 wing-plumes^ belonging to one of these species, has also been 

 seen at Bitye at the same season. The birds are always 

 seen on the open grounds of clearings, and not in the 

 forest. I almost walked on one when crossing a newly 

 made clearing; it was on the ground, amongst the brown 

 and yellowish dry leaves and grass, which it so closely 

 resembled in colour that if it had not flown I might almost 

 have stepped on it without seeing it. 



Ch.etura sabinii. [Mvae.] 



Reich. V. A. ii. p. .388 ; Bates, Ibis, 1909, p. 27. 



Four more specimens have been obtained, adult males 

 and females. The length of the wing varies from 121 to 

 125 mm. 



Were it not that these Swifts have a propensity to fly into 

 houses, doubtless taking then for caves or large hollow trees, 

 I should have seen less of them than I hav^e. Two of my 

 specimens Avere caught in native habitations. I have a 

 number of times seen Mvae dart past my house, and some- 

 times enter it, even clinging for a moment to the wall. One 

 specimen was knocked down by a man with a stick as it 

 came out of an old pit in the forest. I used to see a pair of 

 Mvae every day, coursing about in the vicinity of a large 

 hollow tree, where they doubtless had a nest. 



Two nests with eggs, taken from hollow trees, were bi ought 

 to me, in each case with a bird. One, a male, was shot by my 

 boy as it clung to the inside of a hoUovv tree, which was 

 open above, giving light enough to shoot. Thei'cwere three 

 other birds, making two pairs, in the hollow. The other 

 specimen brought with a nest was also a male. It had been 

 caught with a butterfly-net by a boy who saw it enter a 

 hollow under the half-rotten roots of an old tree, and 

 secured it as it flew out, afterwards taking the nest. These 

 nests were made of small bits of twigs stuck together, and 

 were shaped like half-cups, glued to the wall of the hollow 

 tree. In one were three pure white eggs, measuring, 



SEK. IX. VOL. v, 2 N 



