520 Mr. G. L. Bates on the 



Fraseria ocreata. (Plate IX. fig. 1.2, egg.) 



Sharpe, Ibis, 1908, p. 328 ; Bates, Ibis, 1U09, p. 29. 



A bird of the forest, this species has been seen in every 

 locality Avhere I have been in S. Cameroon, but was especially 

 abundant near my carap at Assobam. Sometimes there weie 

 small parties of four or five, chasing one another with a 

 buzzing or scolding noise. I occasionally heard some 

 pleasing song-notes from one at Assobam, and two pairs 

 were found breeding there. One pair seemed to be beginning 

 to build in a knot-hole near the top of a small dead tree. 



One sitting female was brought with a nest set between 

 two stout twigs of a branch. This nest was composed of a 

 large mass of fine fibres, with a good-sized cup-shaped 

 cavity. The inside fibres appeared to be rootlets, and were 

 very rough; the feathers of the bird's breast were extremely 

 worn, so as to be mere stumps, and had lost the white ends, 

 making the bird's breast appear dark grey. A single nest- 

 ling in this nest had the upper parts of its plumage covered 

 with small light brown spots or specklt-s, thickest on the 

 head, and the inside of the mouth orange. 



Another sitting bird, shot with a little arrow in the head, 

 was brought in at Bitye, along with a nest and two eggs. 

 The nest was made of dry leaf-skeletons and stems, with no 

 soft lining. It was said to have been taken from a small 

 shallow knot-hole in a tree. The bird sat in this hole with 

 only its head visible. One egg was broken; the other 

 measured 21x17 mm. 



[One egg is of a wide oval shape and distinctly glossy. 

 The ground-colour is light olive-green, longitudinally marked 

 with smeared blotches and spots of bright umber-brown 

 and dark grey, which conceal the greater part of the ground- 

 colour. — O.-G.] 



Muscicapa grisola. 



Sharpe, Ibis, 1904, p. 023; 1907, p. 446. 



Dates of recent specimens, and state of plumage : — 



No. 3546, March 30. Plumage new-looking. 



No. 3931, Se|)teml)er 27. ,, worn. 



No. 3986, October 23. 



