f;01 llr. G. L. Bntcs on Ihe 



"vvcre exactly alike in every particular: tliey Avere rathr,:" 

 rude, slight^ shallow cups, composed of dry leaf-petioles, 

 bits of leaves and bark^ with a slight lining of the rocilets of 

 an epiphytic orchid, such as hang on trees. Both had tlie 

 rims smeared over with the dried fruits upon which these 

 birds feed, which had doubtless passed through the sitting 

 bird's body. The bits of egg-shell found in the later nest, 

 and sticking to the bird's breast-feathers, were thickly 

 speckled and spotted with dark brown, the light yellowish 

 ground-colour shewing but little. 



Pycnonotus gabonensis. [Nkwe'ele or Kwalawata.J 

 (Plate XI. figs. 1, 2, 4, & 5, eggs.) 



Sharpe, Ibis, 190 J, p. 638; 1907, p. 4G3 j Bates, Ibis, 

 1905, p. 98; 1909, p. GO. 



This bird may be called lunnehj, using the word both in its 

 good and in its uncomplimentary sense. Though not a pretty 

 bird, it is a most attractive one on account of its ways, and 

 excepting the Common Weavers and the Sparrows, which 

 thrust themselves on the notice of mankind, it is the most 

 familiar bird of the country. A pair repeatedly raised a 

 brood, or sometimes only one chick, near my house, building 

 in the thick centre of the foliage of a palm-tree, from which 

 I had exterminated the Weavers. I have yet another 

 illustration of the theme already spoken on, that the Nkwe'ele 

 is a versatile bird. Though neither it nor its kindred are 

 formed for running or hopping on the ground, and I have 

 never seen another Bulbul on the ground, yet on two 

 or three days I observed a pair of Nkwe'ele hopping 

 along in front of ray house like Sparrows, but awkwardly 

 and with evident eflbrt. There is more than mere fancy in 

 the statement that these birds try to do everything they see 

 other birds doing. They certainly have more than ordinary 

 avian intelligence. 



Nests of Pycnonotus gahoyiensis are a little deeper than 

 those of the species of Phi/llostrop/ms described, and rather 

 better constructed ; they are usually made of tomentose 

 leaf petioles or weed-stems with finer fibres inside. They are 

 found on all sorts of wild and cultivated plants and bushes 



