Birds of Southern Cameroon. 525 



remarkable fact was ascertained by examining many fieshly 

 killed specimens, whicli can be more easily handled than 

 dried ones. Moreover, two nestlings were examined, in 

 which the tail-feathers shewed as a row of points across the 

 pygostyle, and in each case there were just ten such points. 



Text-fig. 14. 



ToDgue-spots of Cldoropeta batesi. 



The nestlings have the inside of the mouth and the tongue 

 orange, and the tongue has a pair of black spots at the base 

 — a character found in no other nestling Flycatcher (see 

 text-figure 14). Adult birds retain much of the orange- 

 colour inside the mouth, but there are no tongue-spots. 



Four nests have been found and brought to me, in every 

 case with the sitting bird. Three of these, one being a male, 

 were caught on the nest after dark ; the fourth, also a male, 

 was shot on the nest with a bow and arrow, at dusk. 

 These nests were found in hikotok or cultivated ground ; 

 two in forks of the big weed Triumfetta, the others on 

 tangled bushes, one of which was thorny. They are bulky 

 fabrics, though the cup-shaped cavity inside is small. The 

 material is grass-blades and in one strips of maize-blades 

 mixed with the " silk " of maize-ears ; and all are lined with 

 the finest grass-tops. Three nests contained two eggs each, 

 the fourth two nestlings. 



The eggs vary in length from 1G*5 to 18 mm., and in 

 breadth from 12 to 13"5 mm. No. 395, the sjiecimeu figured, 

 measures 17 X 13*5 mm. 



[They vary in shape from a wide oval to a rather narrow 

 oval, and are slightly glossy. Tiic ground is pinkish-white, 



