Birds of Southern Cameroon. 615 



BuRNESiA BAiRDi. (Plate XII. figs. 11 & 12^ eggs.) 

 (Text-fig. 19, B.) 



Sharpe, Ibis, 1908, p. 3.26. 



Prima bairdi Bates, Ibis, 1909, p. 69. 



Half a dozen nests o£ this species have been brought to 

 me, each time with the sitting bird or with nestlings, since 

 the two described already. They were placed in tangles of 

 grass or bushes in the bikotok, and one amongst some of the 

 big sedge called '' ahvae" on the bank of the river. The 

 description already given applies to all, except that the 

 materials vary. This bird does not sew leaves together for the 

 exterior. In one nest three nestlings were brought alive ; 

 when they opened tiieir mouths the bright orange-colour 

 and the black basal tongue-spots were very conspicuous. I 

 fed these little birds with insects ; each time, after swallowing, 

 the little creature would turn around and void excrement on 

 the side of the nest towards me, and upwards, but not over 

 the edge of the nest ; the parent bird would have removed 

 it. The nest was clean when it was brought. The tongue 

 of one of these nestlings is that figured. 



Three is the usual number of eggs of a clutch in this 

 species. A large number of eggs measure 16xl2'5 mm, ; 

 none vary more than half a millimetre from this in width, 

 but a few are longer, the limit in length being 18 mm. 



[The eggs of this species have been already described, and 

 additional clutches resemble those already examined. They 

 are of two very distinct types, either with clouded markings 

 or with finely freckled markings of some shade of chestnut ; 

 the ground-colour varies from pale bluish-green in the 

 former type to bright blue-green in the latter. — W. R. O.-G.] 



BuRNEsiA LEUCOPOGON. [Osc-minjombok.] (Plate XII. 

 figs. 9 & 10, eggs). (Text-fig. 19, B.) 



Sharpe, Ibis, 1908, p. 327. 



A dozen nests of this species have been found and 

 identified in the usual way, in all seasons except the 

 very dry one. These have an even closer resemblance 

 to each other than nests of the same species of bird 



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