Birds of Southern Cameroon. 593 



tlie plumage of the upper surface of the head merely of a 

 darker brown than that of the back, without any lustre. 

 They have mouth-markings like those oi Estrilda [cf. text- 

 fig. \7, B, C, p. 594). 



A female (No. 3827; oviduct enlarged) was brought to 

 me with a nest, Tiie bird had been struck with the head of 

 a spear as it emerged from the nest, which was placed in the 

 axil of a palm-frond, too high for the boy to reach it with 

 his hand. The nest was composed of the fine fibres of dry 

 plantain leaf-stalks, and, though much disarranged, seemed 

 to have been shaped like those of Estrilda and of Nigrita 

 brunnescens mentioned above. Thus the statement of 

 natives, given in a note under this species (' Ibis/ /. c. 

 sttpra), that the remarkable felt nests sometimes found, 

 resembling those of the Penduline Tit, are nests of this 

 species or N. brumiescens, is proved to be a mistake. 



The nest above described liad contained three eggs, but 

 two were broken ; the third, which is pure white and without 

 gloss, measures 14'5 X 10'5 mm. 



Estrilda occibentalis. 



Sharpe, Ibis, 1908, p. 343 ; Bates, Ibis, 1909, p. 52. 



A young bird of this species was noted with mouth- 

 markings similar to those of the species of Estrilda {cf. 

 text- fig. 17, p. 594). 



A sitting female (No. 3936) was caught in the nest, 

 which was of the usual water-bottle shape characteristic of 

 the small Sperniestinre ; the five eggs were also exactly like 

 those of Estrilda atricapiUa already described (' Ibis,' /. c. 

 supra). These eggs vary only i'rom 13 to 13*5 mm. in 

 length, and all are 10 mm. in width. 



Estrilda nonnula. (Text-fig. 17, B, p. 594.) 



Sharpe, Ibis, 1908, p. 344. 



This is the commonest species of Estrilda at the Ja, but 

 was not found at Efulen. 



Six nests with eggs or nestlings were brought to me : five 

 in the month of September and one in November. All but 

 one were accompanied by a sitting female bird, caught 



